


Darkest Night Hour

by YesIsAWorld



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampires, Blood Drinking, Explicit Sexual Content, Human!Harry, M/M, New York City, Technological Inconveniences, The Malik Clan, The Tomlinson Family - Freeform, Vampires, vampire!Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 08:59:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12077856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YesIsAWorld/pseuds/YesIsAWorld
Summary: After spending thirty-five years hiding out with his face buried in ancient vampire texts, Louis comes back to New York City. While Louis is adjusting to city life in the modern age, Zayn just wants his clan to finally win at trivia nights. Louis needs to make a major decision and he's running out of time. The last thing he expects is to meet someone like Harry, who might be the solution to all of their problems.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sxmmertimestyles (binarysunsets)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/binarysunsets/gifts).



> sxmmertimestyles (binarysunsets) -- I hope you like this! It was a lot of fun to write. 
> 
> Thank you so much to my partners in crime, [gettingaphdinlarry](http://www.gettingaphdinlarry.tumblr.com/html/) and [myownsparknow](http://www.myownsparknow.tumblr.com). Thanks for letting me bounce ideas off you and the cheerleading and letting me give you *constant* word count updates. 
> 
> Also, a huge thanks to my betas [gettingaphdinlarry](http://www.gettingaphdinlarry.tumblr.com/html/) and [fullonlarrie](http://www.fullonlarrie.tumblr.com) for giving this such a thorough read through and helping make this a better story. 
> 
> And I want to give a special thanks to [Sea](http://www.seasurfacefullofclouds.tumblr.com) for talking me through musical terms. Hopefully I got them all right after your tutelage.
> 
>  
> 
> **Please do not post this fic or any of my other fics on any other websites. I'm not currently allowing translations either. Thank you for respecting my wishes.**

It was only ten hours into Louis’ flight from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to New York City, yet he was pretty sure he was going to die of boredom. Figure of speech, of course, since he had died once already and going by the most recent statistical data he figured he probably had a couple of hundred of centuries left to live until he went from undead to dead dead. So another five, six, seven hours on this flight—time zones haven’t changed, but he was never great at math—was really the tiniest blip on his timeline in the big scheme of things, but still he was feeling anxious and claustrophobic and really just wanted to get off the plane already. He adjusted himself in his seat. The private plane was roomier than flying commercial but the small table in front of him was still encroaching in his space. He reached up to turn on the air, but the stale smell that came out was worse than the heat. Zayn, that dickhead, was still fast asleep in the bed at the back of the plane. The ‘quick cat nap’ that he promised was definitely turning into a full day’s sleep. Louis shuffled his deck of playing cards again, set the cards for another round of solitaire, then swooped all the cards back together in a messy pile. He couldn’t sit in his seat, as luxurious as it was, for another moment. 

He stood and stretched his arms as high as he could, feeling the strain in his shoulders, then pressed up on his toes to stretch his feet too. Releasing the tension, he dropped his arms at the same time as he curved his back and let his torso fall forward. This used to be one of his favorite stretches, but it was anticlimactic without the rush of blood to his head. After standing back up straight he rolled his neck and caught sight of Zayn, lying there peacefully. 

Louis considered the consequences, then dramatically flung himself on top of his master’s sleeping body. 

With an annoyed huff, Zayn cracked one eye open. “Gonna bite you if you don’t move immediately,” he complained. Zayn’s gruff, menacing look needed some work; he was adorable when he was soft and mostly asleep. 

“Nah, been there, done that.”

Zayn grunted in response and turned under the sheets. So Louis crawled into bed next to him. 

“Need a cuddle,” Louis said. He draped his arm around Zayn’s torso and snuggled close behind him. 

They lay there quietly. The plane’s blackout window shades kept the interior dark, and the dull roar of the engines was the only sound for a long while. Zayn’s body had provided comfort for years now, and it was practically Pavlovian, curling up with him quieted Louis’ mind. 

“It’s going to be okay, you know,” Zayn finally said. 

“Yeah, of course. I know it is.” Louis thought about New Rochelle and walking away from everything he knew years ago. He never planned to come back. “I was thinking—”

“Dangerous,” Zayn deadpanned.

Louis scoffed. “I never really spent much time in the city, growing up. We were always in the ’burbs.”

“Okay…?”

“I’d like to see it.”

Zayn yawned; it was a long, fake, drawn out thing that had Louis rolling his eyes. 

“I know. I know. You’ve been everywhere and seen everything. You can stop rubbing it in.” He attempted to tweak Zayn’s nipple, but as always, Zayn grabbed his wrist at the last moment and pulled his hand away. One day Louis was going to catch him off guard. “You’re the one who is dragging me back here against my will. At the very least you can let me have a few days to explore the city.”

Zayn sighed. “It’s not against your will, not really. Stop saying that.” 

Louis speaks the next part with him, having heard it enough over the past few years, “I’m simply looking out for your best interest.”

“I am though. Your time is running out and—”

“And what? Nothing changes if I don’t—”

“You’ll regret it someday. I’ve seen enough to know that’s a fact.”

Zayn’s arguments haven’t gotten any better. Through the almost thirty-five years they’ve spent together they’ve had this one consistant fight and Louis is no closer to changing his mind than he was initially. For a four-hundred-year-old vampire, Zayn could really brush up on his persuasive arguments.

“I won’t.” Louis knew that for sure. “And I’m done talking to you tonight.” 

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Louis didn’t make any effort to get off the bed. It was comfy and even when Louis hated him, Zayn was still the best cuddler he knew. Louis managed to drop off to sleep for a bit, waking alone to the whirring sound of the thick window shades rolling up. It was finally night in whatever part of the world they were flying over. Louis sat up and crawled to nearest window. He looked down at the array of lights below. Zayn went from missing to beside him from one blink to the next.

“I’m not impressed, show off,” Louis said.

“We’ll be in New York in a few minutes.” Zayn nudged him with his shoulder, directing his attention back to the city below. 

For once, Louis did as he was told. He pressed his forehead against the cool glass and watched and watched until the far away twinkles became individual lights and the plane gently landed on the runway. 

“Home Sweet Home,” Louis murmured. 

〰〰〰

After unlocking the door, Zayn tossed the key over to Louis. “Welcome home,” Zayn said as he crossed the threshold. Louis followed him in, and dropped his bag as soon as he closed the door behind him. 

The pre-war apartment was gorgeous and spacious. He knew Zayn had money, private plane money even, but this seemed like too much. He followed Zayn through the foyer and down two stairs to the sunken living room. There was a plush white rug over the hardwood, two leather couches, and some sort of large screen along the wall. 

“I’ll show you your room, then give you the grand tour,” Zayn said after letting Louis gape at his new digs for a few moments. He disappeared down a long hallway and Louis scurried to catch up to him. 

Zayn opened the first door and poked his head in. Louis tried to catch a glimpse over his shoulder, but couldn’t get a good look before Zayn was shutting the door. “My room.” 

“Right. Okay. Got it,” Louis replied, understanding the message was that he was to stay out. He wouldn’t, but he got the message.

On the opposite side of the hall Zayn pointed out Niall’s room and the bathroom, before finally arriving at Louis’ room at the end of the hall. Zayn allowed Louis the honor of opening the door and entering first. The king-size bed took up most of the room, but there was also a sturdy wooden dresser and a small desk. One side of the bed had a nightstand that matched the dresser and the other side had a small bookcase that was already half full. 

Zayn motioned to the paperbacks. “A couple of bestsellers from the past few years. There’s some gay lit in there too. Hopefully something catches your fancy. Figured you’re probably behind since your nose was stuck in those history books.” Louis flipped him off. “And I’m willing to bet no one got you hooked up with a Kindle yet.” Zayn smirked. 

“What’s a Kindle?” Louis asked as he swiped a finger along the uncracked spines. 

Zayn shook his head. “Nevermind. I’ll explain another day.” Motioning to Louis, he moved toward the door, “Come on, let me show you the rest.”

“Where does Liam sleep?” Louis asked. He knew he was welcome to stay here indefinitely, with a few caveats, one being that the other members of their small coven, Liam and Niall, were liable to stop by anytime. They had their own apartments elsewhere in the city, but their Maker was still going to provide a safe place where they were welcome. 

“What do you mean?” Zayn asked as they crossed back across the living room. 

“I assume you gave me his room. Is he… he won’t be mad, right?”

Zayn laughed. “Nah, he hasn’t stayed there in decades.”

“Oh—”

“And here’s the kitchen,” Zayn spoke over him. “Bit small, as pre-wars normally are, but you know, don’t eat much, so it’s never really been a problem.” Louis opened a few cabinets, finding it well stocked with blood bags and unnecessary non-perishables that gave the kitchen an air of normality. He turned back to Zayn as he was pointing out the mountain of mail on the dining room table. 

Louis was fixated on the giant crystal chandelier, and he heard, but didn’t understand, when Zayn continued. “Make yourself comfortable. Feet up, all that. TV, DVR, PS4, Xbox, Netflix, everything should be logged in and powered up.” He was going to have to write up a translation guide for all those acronyms. 

“Think I may just… shower? Plane was nice, but it was still far too many hours in the air.”

“You should be able to work the record player. I made sure to buy some of your favorites.”

Louis looked at the shelf full of records. “The Beatles? Billy Joel? The Ramones?”

“All of the above.”

“Have I told you recently that I love you, Zaynie?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Zayn dismissed him. “I’m going to head out for the rest of the night. Give you a chance to settle in and snoop a bit.”

“I would never.”

Zayn rolled his eyes. “You know it’s impossible for me to believe your lies.”

Louis hoped that wasn’t the case, although after almost thirty-five years he was beginning to think Zayn was telling the truth. “Okay, goodbye. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“You’ll be fine without me? You know all you have to do is—”

“I know! I know! I’ll be totally fine. Go enjoy… whatever it is you’ll be doing.”

“Believe me, I will,” he said, not quite under his breath. “Gonna check in on Liam and Niall. Make sure they’ve been okay while I’ve been preoccupied with someone else.” 

“Out you go, leave me to shower in peace.” Louis started pushing him toward the door. 

“If you need me—”

“Which I won’t…”

Zayn huffed. “Fine! Goodbye. Tomorrow we’ll talk about finding you a job so you can stop mooching off me like some… sugar baby!”

“Goodbye!” Louis all but slammed the door in his face. He waited a slow count of three then opened the door back up to find Zayn looking unimpressed. “I’ll miss you. Be safe.”

Zayn threw his arms around Louis in a quick hug, then was off, leaving Louis to explore, well, snoop, just like Zayn said he would. 

He started in the bathroom since he did need to take a shower. There was nothing especially exciting under the sink or in the medicine cabinet, but the shower was luxurious and he loved the smell of all of Zayn’s products. They all looked expensive and he was excited at the prospect of some day being able to afford shit like that himself. But first, as Zayn heavily suggested, he had to find a job so he could theoretically stand on his own two feet, and to keep himself busy so he didn’t just have an eternity of bored days laid out in front of him. 

So after attempting to snoop for anything he could use to blackmail Zayn—nothing incriminating was found, to his great dismay—he set to work actively procrastinating from finding a job. The library that Zayn set out was great, but Louis was really interested in vegging out for a bit. He stood next to what he figured must be the television, because it was the focal point of the living room, even though it was nothing at all like the square box with a tiny screen that he pictured when he thought of a TV. There weren’t even any dials on the front to change the channel or turn it on. There was a pile of remotes on the coffee table, but he had no idea which one controlled what and the number of buttons were daunting, so he bypassed them in favor of looking at the devices under the TV. He wasn’t sure what they played or how to work them. 

In the corner stood the record player and stereo system. He looked through the collection that Zayn had provided, plucked the Herman’s Hermits album from the shelf, and put it on. The songs reminded him so acutely of home, that he figured the tedium of job searching might ease the ache. 

After turning the whole apartment upside down, he decided that Zayn probably didn’t get newspapers delivered if he wasn’t there. He made a quick note to call the Times and start delivery again.

With nothing else to do, he made sure all the blinds were drawn and thick blackout curtains shut, and laid down on the couch to listen to the music and hopefully forget all about everything he didn’t understand. 


	2. Chapter 2

As a gust of cold air from the open door assaulted him, Louis looked up from his book. He suppressed the need to wrap his arms around himself and pull his hoodie closer. Instead, he stayed professional, assessing the woman who walked through the door. One of these nights he was going to put up a sign that the push door was broken to corral all the students to the lesser used revolving door. The cold bursts were probably bad for his health. They were inconvenient, if nothing else. 

The woman scanned her ID as she walked past and gave Louis a tight, polite smile. He returned it before glancing at his watch. Ten minutes until the classes in session let out and the small lobby would be a flurry of activity. 

From his tiny security desk, Louis looked out the window at the orange-hued sky. It was going to snow and he hoped it would hold out until he got home since he had not worn his boots to work. 

As predicted, once the classes in the building let out, there was a steady stream of students leaving through the main doors, and others coming in for their night classes. He tried to keep a sharp eye out to make sure everyone’s IDs scanned correctly, but it was only his second day and he really didn’t have a handle on watching the lobby, doors, and screen that would occasionally beep in front of him all at the same time. 

As he knew would happen though, it was only a few minutes of chaos, and then back to relative quiet once it was time for classes to start again. He had just settled in with his book when someone else was letting in another chilling gust of air. Louis looked up to give the person a disapproving glare—as a security guard it was a perfectly acceptable look. 

The man in front of him had a cheeky smile, bracketed by dimples, which fell into a look of confusion when he saw Louis. 

“You’re not Sabrina.”

It was the first time someone other than his supervisor had said anything other than a quiet ‘hi’ or ‘bye’ with a pinched smile on their way past. 

“You’re right.”

“Harry, actually.” The man swooped his long-ish hair out of his face. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Louis hadn’t a clue what he was talking about. During his training they mentioned that sometimes people would come in off the street to try and get warm during the winter and Louis was to do his best to shuffle them back out onto the street, calling the police if they were particularly stubborn. He couldn’t see himself doing that, but had nodded along. He needed to find a job and to get off of Zayn’s metaphorical couch at some point. 

But this man looked like a student. He was wearing a gray hoodie with ‘The New School’ in blocky letters across the front, and over top of that was a knee-length gray and black striped coat, which he left open. There was a long, chunky scarf draped over his shoulders, not wrapped around his neck. He was wearing the practically mandatory black skinny jeans (Zayn had convinced Louis that he needed to wear them as well, so maybe his persuasive skills were okay occasionally.) and a pair of brown Chelsea boots. He practically radiated liberal arts degree. The bright orange MUD coffee cup in his hand wasn’t helping matters. 

“Sorry. Harry. That’s me. I mean, that’s my name.” He dug around in the bag slung over his shoulder for his ID to let him through the turnstile. 

“Right. Okay. I’m Louis.”

Harry came up with his card, then tucked both the card and his coffee in his left hand and thrust his right one towards Louis. 

“Nice to meet you.” Harry maintained unnerving eye contact during the handshake. “You’re new?”

Louis was so shaken by the whole interaction he could only nod. 

“I’m running late.” Louis checked his watch to see that it was indeed seven past eight. “But see you later.” Harry gave a wave and then ducked into a waiting elevator. 

Louis spent the next two hours trying to read his book, even though he couldn’t focus on anything but the strange guy he had just met.

When ten o’clock finally rolled around, Louis kept a sharp eye out for Harry leaving the building. He needn't have worked so hard though, because as everyone filed out of the elevators and stairwells, walking straight towards the door, Harry hung back. He waited until the lobby was mostly empty, then waved as he made his way outside. “Have a good night, Louis.”

It looped through Louis’ brain for the rest of his boring shift. 

〰〰〰

When Louis got home hours later, it was back to a dark, empty apartment. 

“Zayn?” 

When there was no response, Louis tossed his keys in the bowl by the door and collapsed onto the couch without even taking off his coat. He knew he had to get to his room before sunrise, but the couch was so close and so comfortable and he deserved to stay there for a minute or two or five. 

He lost track of how long he had been lying there, when suddenly a loud, rhythmic, chiming he had never heard before woke him up. He shot up, on full alert, as he tried to place the noise. A small black rectangle was on the edge of the table, screen lit up with a close-up of Zayn’s face. Louis was tempted to hit the small red button, but the shrill noise rang out again and he went for green. He could hear Zayn, tinny and far away from the machine. He brought it up to his ear to hear better. 

“What is this, Zayn.”

“Your new phone.”

“I don’t need a phone,” Louis huffed. “Who needs to carry a phone around with at all times.”

“Well, technically it’s more of your new computer. The phone is just a bonus.”

Louis had yet to even turn on the laptop that Zayn had left on his desk one night. “Don’t suppose I need it either way.”

“Everyone has one these days.”

“Lucky I’m not everyone.”

“Anyway, I’m calling to say that you need to go to your room.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Louis hoped that Zayn could hear his eye roll. 

“I’m serious. Sunrise is in 4 minutes.”

Louis hated when Zayn was right. He got up from the couch and made his way to the bathroom. His mouth felt atrocious. 

“Good thing I got you that phone,” Zayn said. 

“Could’ve used the apartment number.”

“But how would I have called you?”

“Uhhh from wherever you are? I know that actual phones still exist.”

Zayn was quiet for a long minute as Louis quickly brushed his teeth, spending a few extra seconds on his fangs. He knew he had won this argument. 

“Good night, Zayn. See you whenever you get home!” He hung up without another word and fell into his bed. His transition back to the States hadn’t been entirely smooth, and being back in the land of the living left him exhausted every night when he made it back to his—er, Zayn’s—apartment. 

Once the sun had gone back down again, Louis climbed out of bed and wandered to the kitchen. As he scratched his belly he surveyed the contents of the fridge, and decided that it wasn’t worth the effort. Sometimes he’ll have intense craving for something specific, Cheetos, plums, french fries, but if nothing looked appealing he shrugged food off until it did. He brewed himself a cup of tea, warmed up a pouch of animal blood, and sat down in front of the PS4. 

Before Louis had been changed, he spent hours and hours of his time playing Space Invaders on his Atari. The PS4 seemed like witchcraft the first time he saw Zayn power it on. He was still learning what the myriad of buttons on the controller did, and it was taking him an embarrassingly long amount of time to figure out FIFA17. He wanted to throttle whoever thought shapes would be appropriate button labels. He was just past the ‘smashing random buttons’ phase, but still had aways to go before he could beat Zayn, so he tried to get in some practice whenever Zayn wasn’t home. 

Zayn strolled in while he was still trying to draft his team—as if he knew who any of the current players were. He tossed the controller to the side. 

“And where have you been?”

Zayn smirked. “Hmm? Oh, had a hook up last night. Lasted way longer than I was planning. He was fucking hung.”

Louis snorted. “Right, so, um…”

Zayn raised his eyebrows, like he knew exactly what Louis was going to ask, which he probably did. “Ummm?”

“Bathhouses? Is that still… um, where people meet other…”

“Yeah, you can still cruise there. I haven’t gone in ages though so I can’t recommend the best ones. I can find out though, if you’re interested.”

Louis cleared his throat. “I’m not interested in bathhouses, specifically, more like, generally, if I were to, want to uh, go, where the popular places are, where would I go?” Well, that was a lot less eloquent than he planned.

“I thought you weren’t interested in sex.”

Louis felt his cheeks heating up. “I’m not, exactly. Libido is still as dead as I am,” Louis let out a little laugh at his joke, “but, like, it’d be nice to kiss someone, or snuggle someone that wasn’t you.”

Zayn’s look softened. “Your phone.”

“Not this again.”

“On your phone, go to the app store and download Grindr. Then make an account. Presto!”

“Asshole, you know I understood, like, three of those words.”

“In the last thirty-five years you’ve managed to learn Russian, Turkish, Kyrgyz, and Romanian, and yet it still feels like you’re an imbecile.”

“Right, well, I’ve spent the last few years studying—”

“Living like a monk.”

“And I just didn’t have time to keep up with less important things.”

“Like how to adjust back into society.” Zayn stood up and fetched the new phone from Louis’ room. “I’ll download it. You can thank me later.”

Louis very much doubted that. But he was still going to figure out exactly what Zayn was talking about. 

〰〰〰

During Louis’ next shift at work, Harry arrived at least twenty minutes early for his class. He waltzed in and remembered Louis’ name and maintained the same steady eye contact. Louis had written it off as a one-off event, this gorgeous man talking to him. No one had paid him any attention since he went off to study with a bunch of old vampire monks, and he legitimately forgot how to flirt.

Harry made it through the turnstile and Louis turned back to his book; it was far too tempting to ogle Harry’s body as he walked away. But there was still a presence off to the side and when he looked up, Harry was leaning against the counter. 

“Whatcha reading?”

“Oh!” Louis held up a battered paperback. “ _Salem’s Lot_.”

“Can’t go wrong with Stephen King.” 

They stared at each other for a few more moments, then Harry’s face lit up and he pulled a tupperware container out of his bag and gently set it on the counter. “Pavlova.”

“Bless you.” Louis smirked at his joke. 

“Do you like it?”

“Do I like pavlova? I don’t even know what that is.”

“Try it, tell me what you think.”

Louis looked at him suspiciously, trying to read if there was a possibility of him getting poisoned. He didn’t know what Harry could possibly have against him, but he could still be a run-of-the-mill serial killer whose kink was poisoning baked goods. But Harry was wide-eyed and he pinched at his lower lip while Louis decided, so Louis was willing to take a chance. 

“Alright, fine.” Louis picked up one of the pale, circular treats, it was topped with a bright red smear of something. It was too big to eat all in one bite, so he bit off half. The tang of raspberries exploded on his tongue as the crunch of the meringue melted into something light and airy. He popped the second half in while reaching for another. 

“These are amazing! You made these?” Louis was aware that he sounded like a kid in a candy store, but finding something interesting to eat again meant he didn’t care. 

Harry seemed chuffed at getting to show off his kitchen skills. “You like it?” 

Harry was still giving him the wide-eyed, staring-into-his-soul look that made Louis feel slightly off center. He swallowed down another mouthful. “Yeah. Yeah, I do,” Louis said. 

He was expecting Harry to give another smile then turn and walk away, but Harry just offered up another one, and who was Louis to say no. Harry leaned against the counter while Louis ate.

“I hope you don’t mind if I hang here for a little bit? I have some time to kill and Sabrina never minded…”

“So, you and Sabrina were, uh, close?”

“Not so close that she’d tell me if she was quitting or getting transferred or whatever this semester. Mostly we made small talk, I guess.”

“Sorry I can’t help find her for you.” He probably could, getting this job through Zayn’s network was a breeze, he could probably call in a favor or two without anyone blinking an eye, but it felt skeevy, and, really, Louis didn’t want Harry leaving.

“No! I didn’t mean… It’s fine. She was fine. I, uh, just don’t want to bug you if I hang out for a bit?”

“You’re welcome to hang anytime.”

“Cool. So did you transfer from another building or…?”

“No, first time doing this, actually. I was… abroad… for a bit. Back now, needed a job and my friend hooked me up. Sooo, here I am.”

“Oh, that’s so cool. There are so many places I want to travel. It’s a bummer to think I’ll never have time to see them all. Where were you?”

Something about Harry makes Louis want to tell him the truth, so he hedges on a vague answer. “Uh, went through Europe, then ended up in Central Asia.”

“No way! Someday you’re going to have to tell me all about it.”

Definitely not. “Yeah, whatever you’d like to know.”

“How do you feel about knock knock jokes?” Harry asked with a sudden change of topic. 

“They’re… fine. I guess? Never really thought about them, to be honest. Why? You have a good one?”

Harry’s dimpling grin was answer enough. The first one made Louis giggle enough that Harry told a second, and then a third. Louis tried his hand at some that he very vaguely recalled from when he was a kid, then Harry was back at it. 

Louis heard their laughter echoing off the walls. A woman was walking through the lobby and her heels clicked along the linoleum. He glanced at his watch at the same time Harry picked up his phone. 

“Oh shit, I’m late. You’re gonna be here when I get out, right?” Harry was already walking away. 

“Yeah, yeah. Of course,” Louis called after him. He remembered the Tupperware full of cookies next to him. “Oh, you forgot your—” But the elevator doors closed and Harry was gone for the next two hours. 

The hours dragged. Louis tried to concentrate on his book, but the Tupperware kept catching his eye and between Harry and another one of Harry’s cookies, Louis wasn’t sure which he wanted more. 

Finally the elevators starting moving again and people started to leave the building. Louis couldn’t miss him on the way out; he’d have absolutely no willpower to leave any of the cookies behind. Louis was cursing his ordinary eyesight, figuring that he had definitely missed Harry, when with a final ding, the elevators parted again and Harry strolled out. 

“Think everyone is gone?” Harry asked. There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye that Louis knew well. 

“Probably? I haven’t been here long but there doesn't seem to be many stragglers.”

“Wanna see something?”

Louis had no idea what Harry was up to, but whatever it was, he wanted to be a part. 

“Yeah, I’ll lock the doors and we can do a quick round and then you can show me whatever.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.” 

The whatever turned out to be an unlocked fire escape that led out onto the roof. Louis gasped when he saw the view. On one side was the Freedom Tower and on the other was the Empire State Building. And between them on both sides were blocks and blocks and blocks of rooftops.

“It’s pretty cool in the summer,” Harry whispered. “No one would be crazy enough to stay outside with this wind chill, but in the summer, it’s like a whole secondary city up here with people having cookouts and sunbathing and relaxing. There’s a lot of excellent people watching.”

“I bet.” Louis loved how muted the sound was up there. There were still cars and loud pedestrians and sirens, but everything felt far off. 

“Did you and, Serena, did you say her name was, come up here often?” 

He turned to find Harry looking at him instead of the view. “Sabrina? Nah. I’ve never really… don’t know why I wanted to show you.”

Louis smiled, frozen in place. It felt like Harry was flirting and Louis had no idea how to respond. 

Harry gave him a small smile back and pulled out his phone. “I have a whole series of pictures from up here, I love seeing how it changes over time.”

“Oh, it’s a shame you didn’t bring your camera.”

Harry gave him a strange look and shook his phone. “This one is actually pretty good.”

“Oh, right. Yeah.” Louis pulled his own phone out, maybe Harry could show him how to use the camera. He couldn’t find the power button so he stuffed it back in his pocket. Harry set up his compositions and snapped a few shots, then went to the other side of the building and did it again. Louis shuddered as a cold gust of air blew around them. He ducked down behind the ledge and found a relatively clean place to sit that blocked the wind. Zayn would call him ridiculous; it wasn’t _that_ tall of a building and the wind wasn’t _that_ strong, but it’d still hurt like a bitch if he fell off. Pffff. No need to fly when he could just crouch right here. 

Harry finished up his pictures and then took a seat next to him. 

“Are you studying photography?” Louis asked. 

“No, just a hobby. I’m getting my masters in Theories of Urban Practice.”

“Oh, I… have no idea what that means.”

Harry laughed. “You’re not alone. I always have to explain it. It’s like… the study of cities, and how to transform them.”

Now was Louis’ turn to laugh. “Really? Okay.”

“Well, alright then, what are you studying?”

You. “Nothing at the moment. Working. Trying to get acclimated back to city life.”

“Where in the city do you live?”

“I’m staying with a friend right now. Up in Yorkville. York and 89th.”

Harry quirked an eyebrow. “Really? I don’t know anyone up in that area. I thought it was all like, old ladies with teacup dogs.”

“Well, what about you?” Louis was mock-offended on Zayn’s behalf. 

“Chelsea,” Harry said. “22nd and 9th-ish.” Harry’s eye contact was back and Louis couldn’t read his facial expression. 

“Cool. Cool. We’re actually even then, because I don’t know anyone in that area.”

Harry cocked his head to the side and he looked confused for a minute. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Right.”

“You could introduce me, like, to some others. I don’t have many friends here.”

“Oh, yeah. Okay. Um, I could give you my number, you could text whenever you want.” 

Louis had no idea what texting was. He was annoyed that Zayn was staying in the city when he could go off to who knows where, but it turned out that having a translator came in handy. He patted down his shirt and pants. “Shit. Don’t have anything to write with.”

Harry laughed. “You’re really funny, you know. Gimme your phone.”

Louis did so without reservation. Hopefully Harry could turn it on. 

Harry hit the round button in the front and nothing happened. “Oh, um, maybe you’re out of battery. I have a charger in my bag if you need.”

“Maybe? That’s odd. Try turning it on again and see what happens.”

This time Harry held down a different button on the side until the screen lit up. 

“Weird. You’re at like 98%.”

“Yeah, you know, sometimes I just like, turn it off, if no one is trying to reach me.”

Harry laughed again. “Right, yeah. Anyway, I’m just… going… to… add…” he narrated as he clicked through a series of button. “New phone?” Harry looked down in confusion.

“Oh, yeah, um, my friend insisted on it. I’m still trying to get used to it.”

“Zayn?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” He really hoped Harry wasn’t a telepath. 

Harry turned the phone’s screen towards Louis. “He’s your only contact.”

“Oh, um—”

“Make sure you don’t delete me when you import the rest, okay?”

Louis nodded. Yeah, he wouldn’t think of deleting Harry. 

They spent the rest of the night on the roof. Louis’ responsibilities of watching over the building after dark were ignored, but he couldn’t be bothered to care when he had Harry by his side. They laughed and laughed and by close to morning, Louis was pretty sure Harry was going to be his new best friend. 

〰〰〰

A few weeks passed with pretty much the same schedule, Louis sat at the desk for most of his shift and then stayed up even later with Harry, arriving home just before daybreak. He cut it close a few times but he couldn’t bear to pull himself away from Harry even a minute earlier than necessary. 

Nights he wasn’t working, Zayn had convinced him to start coming down to Puck Fair for drinks with the rest of the coven. 

Puck Fair, or simply ‘Puck’ as they called it, was a great vamp bar disguised as an Irish pub. It was mostly patronized by vampires during the week, but the weekends got a little more rowdy with more humans showing up. They had a strict no-powers rule which kept the fighting and other shenanigans outside. In truth, the wildest nights were Tuesdays, when Trivia Night was held in the basement. 

Louis and Zayn were sitting on the two stools furthest from the entrance, where the bar top curved around to meet the wall. They were waiting for Liam, and maybe possibly Harry, to show up. Niall was working the bar. 

“Can I get you two anything else?” Niall asked once he worked his way down the bar. 

Louis shook his head. It had been a while since he really drank and he still didn’t want to make a bad impression on Harry. He was going to take it slow. 

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Two Bloody Maria’s.” Tequila and animal blood was always Zayn’s favorite. 

“Sure thing, Master.”

“And stop sucking up to me or I’m not going to leave a tip.” Zayn hated when the rest of the coven pulled rank and reminded him that he was their master. In his words, he wasn’t one of those ‘evil, power-hungry vamps who had to overcompensate for other _things_ with a large coven.’ He reminded them often enough that they were all equals, no matter who was oldest. 

Niall gave him a two-finger salute, and set about making the drinks. When they arrived, Zayn slid one over to Louis. “I swear you’re going to wear a hole in the bar the way you’re fidgeting,” he said. Zayn took a sip and continued, “It’ll be fine. Harry clearly likes you, I don’t know what you’re nervous about.”

Louis arched an eyebrow at Zayn. “I’m not even sure that he’s…” Louis dropped his voice to a whisper, “gay.”

“He’s gay.” Zayn counted on his fingers while he spoke, “He lives in Chelsea, gave you his number, he paints his nails, you said his favorite color was rainbow, and you’re the only one that he’s taken up to that roof.”

“But he doesn’t have his ear pierced. Or have a handkerchief?”

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Neither of those things apply to you either. I’m telling you he is. But, more importantly, I feel like he could be the answer to your little, uh, problem.”

Louis took a sip of his drink and practically slid off his barstool in ecstasy. It had been a few days since he had last had any blood and with just the first sip he felt ready to win a 5k or something. 

Zayn smirked at his reaction. “Just imagine…” he said. 

Louis wanted to smack the smirk right off his face. “For the last time,” he knew it wasn’t going to be the last time, “I’m not going to do it. It doesn’t matter. Full stop. Won’t be him. Won’t be anyone.”

“Once you try it, you might like it.”

Louis hummed noncommittally. That’s what he was afraid of. 

“I’m telling you, there’s no rush like it—”

“Yeah. Yeah, heard it all before. Still going to say no though.” 

Louis downed the rest of his drink in one go, then motioned for Niall to make them two more. He felt strong and energized with it coursing through his veins. 

Louis and Zayn sat together in comfortable silence; one of the many perks to spending eternity together was an eternity in which to make idle chitchat. They bobbed their heads to the music, Louis was still getting used to current popular music, and every time the singer broke away and someone starting rapping, Louis was thrown off. The raps were so much more complicated than “Rapper’s Delight,” his only other experience with the genre, before he came back. Luckily, Zayn was much more versed in it and was more than happy to explain it to him. 

Louis couldn’t help but look around, more often than he was ready to admit to himself, looking for Harry.

“He’s coming, I promise,” Zayn said. “I don’t know how, I just have a good feeling about tonight.”

Louis was still a lot more skeptical.

A drink later, Louis jumped when he felt a strong hand clasp him on the shoulder. He expected it to be Harry when he turned around, but instead it was a tall guy with a buzzcut. Zayn bolted out of his seat, giving the man a tight hug. 

“Liam! I missed you, man!” Zayn was still wrapped around the man, who didn’t seem to care at all, hugging Zayn back seemingly just as hard. 

“I couldn’t believe it when you said you were back here,” Liam said. “I thought you were never going to come back.”

Zayn hitched a thumb towards Louis. “New Fledgeling.”

“Not that new,” Louis pouted, “it’s been thirty-five years.” 

Liam laughed. “Nice to meet you, New Fledgeling. I’m Liam, Zayn’s First. Welcome to the coven.”

“Louis. And it’s nice to meet you too.”

It turned out that Liam was a really good guy. And since he had known Zayn for almost the whole four hundred years, he had a ton of embarrassing stories that Louis was definitely going to use against him in the future. 

Louis had almost forgotten that he was supposed to be on the lookout for Harry, when Liam brought up Louis’ least favorite subject. “So why’d you come back here?” Liam sniffed the air. “Zayn said you weren’t interested in any of the… perks.” 

“I’m not,” Louis muttered. 

Zayn had his ‘I told you so’ look fixed on Liam. 

Liam looked incredulous. “Of course you are. That’s… incredibly stupid, actually.”

“Thanks, man.” Louis scowled. It was his choice and he really didn’t need anyone else ganging up on him, thank you very much. He downed another drink. 

“I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to drink from someone.” Liam acted like he had never even heard of the concept, which, given how rare Zayn said it was, maybe he hadn’t. 

Louis was going to tell him in no uncertain terms to mind his own business, but then Zayn was looking at Liam with wide eyes and giving him a sharp elbow to his ribs. In a panic, Louis wiped his chin and the corners of his mouth to make sure there were no remnants of his dark red drink. He turned to see Harry standing behind them, pigeon-toed and with a quirked head. 

“Harry!” Louis exclaimed, probably a bit too loudly. “You came! I was hoping you’d show up. Here!” He stood from his stool quickly, almost knocking it off balance. “You take my stool. I insist.”

“Okay, thanks,” Harry said. He shuffled in front of the other two and took Louis’ stool. 

Niall looked up then and started to come over, asking if they wanted another round. Zayn was frantically giving him the classic ‘no, stop, don’t say anything else’ sign by slicing his hand in front of his throat. 

“Vodka soda! Please,” Louis squeaked. He cleared his throat. “What about you, Harry?”

Liam quickly collected all of their dirty glasses, stacking them off to the side. 

“Uh, same, please,” Harry said in a slow drawl. 

Niall brought around their drinks and also an extra shot for the both of them, throwing a wink Louis’ way. 

To their credit, both Zayn and Liam kept their human facades up, making small talk with Harry in a way that didn’t make it seem like they were ancient, powerful beings. Zayn and Harry, in particular, were hitting it off with a conversation about the history of Paris. Whenever Niall had a few moments without anyone clamoring for more drinks, he’d make his way over to Louis and they’d continue their conversation about college basketball and who they thought would have a good showing during March Madness. 

The only awkward moment came when the food they had ordered to share arrived. Harry went for the fries first, while Louis and the others each claimed a blood sausage from the platter. 

“Oh, those look good, mind if I try a bite?” Harry asked, while staring Louis down. 

Niall arrived with another round for everyone and clearly heard. “Oy, Lou won’t let just anyone try his sausage, gotta be someone special.” Niall winked again and threw his head back in a laugh. 

“Oh my god, Ni. Shut the fuck up, you’re so embarrassing.” Louis turned back to Harry who was looking back and forth between Louis and Niall. “Harry, of course you can try it. I have to warn you that’s it a little different, not sure you’ll like it, but have at it.” Louis cleared his throat. “It’s, uh, blood sausage.”

“Oh! Cool. I’ve heard of it, but never had it. I’m not the most adventurous when it comes to food, but I’ll give it a try.”

Louis passed over a fork, and tried not to cringe when Harry cut off a piece and brought it to his mouth. He _never_ would have tried it when he was human. But to Harry’s credit, he slowly chewed his bite, swallowed it down with a swing of vodka soda, and managed to hand the fork back without gagging. 

“Hm, yeah, not sure that’s my thing,” he finally concluded. 

“More for me!” Louis chirped, pushing the basket of fries closer to Harry. 

By the time that Harry said that he should be going, the rest of them decided that they should head out too. Everyone was pleasantly tipsy and after they all hugged Harry and made sure he was safely in a taxi, Liam and Zayn turned their full attention on Louis. 

“I like him,” Liam said. “Gets my approval.”

“Like I asked,” Louis said with a smile. 

“He seems like a good guy. I think he’ll be good for you. And maybe—”

“Z, don’t say it.”

“Okay, I won’t insinuate that he’s into you enough to let you drink his blood. But he is into you. Couldn’t keep his eyes off you.”

Louis scoffed. “Was talking to you all night.”

“Think he wanted to get on your bestie’s good side. Smart man.” Zayn threw an arm around Louis. “And he’s gay.”

“You think?” Despite all the assurances, he was still worried about making the moves on someone who was not at all interested. 

“Maybe not gay,” Liam said, giving Zayn a good-natured punch to his arm. “But, into at least one dude.” He pointed at Louis. 

“Yeah, yeah. Okay, we’ll see.” It was nice to hear but Louis still wasn’t entirely sure it was the truth. 

〰〰〰

While hidden away in Bishkek, Louis had done a lot of research and reading, and had come to learn that his coven was probably really, really, far outside the norm. Zayn was far more of a friend who happened to be everyone’s Maker and less what one would typically think of a Coven Leader.

It was great, really, Louis had no reason to complain. Coven meetings were held at Zayn’s apartment instead of some warehouse or graveyard or wherever else others had theirs, and there was beer and generally he sprung for name-brand snacks, and there was rarely, _rarely_ any actually coven ‘news’ to discuss.

Which is why Louis, Liam, and Niall were debating whether Cheetos, Utz, Wise, or Trader Joes had the best cheese puffs. The simple taste test had devolved into an all out shouting matching match. 

“Come on, you guys,” Zayn whined. 

Louis, Niall, and Liam kept talking over each other, and none of them paid any attention to Zayn. 

“Fine,” Zayn huffed after a few moments. “I’m going to get a beer. I guess we’ll get started when I get back.”

“Can you get me one, please?” Louis looked up and batted his lashes at Zayn. 

“You’re such a motherfucker, you know that?”

“Hey, Lou.” Niall threw a cheese puff at Louis to get his attention, despite the fact that Louis was already looking at him. 

“What the fuck?”

“What’s Harry’s deal?” Niall asked. 

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you like him?” Liam asked as he grabbed the bag of snacks. 

Niall shrugged. “He kept giving me, this like, death stare.”

“Oh,” Liam exclaimed. “He was probably pissed that you were like, encroaching on his territory.”

“Hey! I’m nobody’s territory.”

Niall shrugged. “Well if that’s it, he must have it bad for you.”

Louis took his time chewing his Cheez Doodle. “So you think he might be gay?”

“Yes!” Niall and Liam said in unison. 

Louis smirked and went back to the argument at hand. “There’s a reason why Cheetos are the best selling. They’re far superior.”

“Maybe you can’t tell with your below-average taste buds—”

Louis snorted out a laugh at Liam’s awful insult. 

“But Utz are actually the best,” Liam continued. 

“Next you’re going to tell me that Pepsi is better than Coke!” Louis exclaimed, accusing Liam of the greatest blasphemy he could think of. 

“It it better than Coke! Britney and Beyoncé wouldn’t lie to me,” Liam deadpanned. 

“I don’t know who either of those people are, but they’re selling you a lie!” Louis had never heard something so ludicrous. 

“Beyoncé!” Niall screeched. “Britney? No one has sat you down and made you listen to our Queens?”

“Uh, no?” He was busy getting reacquainted with the land of the living, and hadn’t yet gotten up to date on thirty plus years of pop music.

Zayn came back with two cold beers and passed one over to Louis. “I have failed you. Tonight we’ll listen to them, and Chance the Rapper, and also some Drake, as soon as we’re done with our important coven agenda.”

“Come on, Z, we never have an agenda,” Liam said. 

“We do today, because Trivia Night sign-ups are in two weeks and unless we come up with a plan, our team will be royally defeated again this year.”

“Oh shit, yeah, also, we need to come up with a better team name this year.” Niall popped another Cheez Doodle in his mouth. 

“Also, we still don’t have anyone who knows jack shit about pop culture…” Zayn complained. “Or those stupid New York questions. None of us stick around long enough to actually learn anything about the city.”

“The supernatural lore questions are always hella tough. Like, you’d think we’d all ace those, but… no,” Liam added. 

“Fuck!” Zayn launched himself off his side of the couch and into Louis’ lap. “My wonderful, smart fledgling!” He kissed both of Louis’ cheeks. “All those years reading all that boring shit… you’re going to win us the championship!” 

“Who says I’ll even join in on trivia nights?” Of course he was going to, but Louis loved to get a good jab in when he could. 

“You’re an asshole. And you’re going.” Zayn said. “I’d prefer not to mind control you to get you there, but don’t think I won’t.”

“Who’s the asshole now?” That had happened exactly once before and Louis absolutely hated how out of sorts he felt afterwards. “Fuck dude. Yeah, okay, I’ll be there.”

“Atta boy, Tommo!” Niall raised his beer in cheers, “To winning free beers for a year!”

“Here! Here!” 

They clinked cans, and with the official coven business over, they were on to a potato chip taste test next. 

〰〰〰

Sitting on the rooftop with Harry was quickly becoming Louis’ favorite thing to do. It certainly beat sitting in that uncomfortable chair for hours in an empty building. 

It had rained earlier in the day and the air had that crisp, clean scent that made Louis want to inhale deeply for the rest of the night. He swore it almost felt life-giving. 

“That shirt looks really nice on you.” Harry interrupted Louis’ thought, and for a moment Louis wondered if he was talking to someone else since Harry was staring down at his own shoes. 

“Oh, uh, thanks. I think Niall got this for me, actually.” Louis looked down at the Paul Smith t-shirt.

“Right.” Harry cleared his throat. “Seems like a nice guy.”

“Niall? Nicest guy you’ll ever meet.”

Harry scrunched his face then smoothed it back out in a moment. “How long have you… been, uh…”

Louis had a moment of panic because Harry was definitely not supposed to know that they were in a coven. He searched his mind for a time when that knowledge might have slipped out. 

With his lips tightly pressed together he stared back at Harry. He wasn’t letting any other information slip out, even if it meant making awkward eye contact until Harry changed the subject. 

“Together?” Harry finally finished. He looked slightly constipated. “It’s uh, nice, that you found someone…” When Louis didn’t answer, Harry said, “Nice. Found someone nice.” 

Louis resolutely did not say ‘of course, no one wants to be in a coven with an asshole’ because Zayn would kill him if he confirmed anything, regardless of what Harry may have picked up that one night at Puck. “Generally I like my friends to be nice,” he said instead, because that seemed safest. 

Harry did a double take. “What?”

“What?” Louis parroted back. “You like being friends with assholes?”

“Friends?”

“Yes?”

“Oh, I thought…” Harry let out a little chuckle. “I thought you two were like… together.”

“Together?” After an exaggerated full body shudder, Louis laughed too. “No. Just… no.” 

Harry looked out at the Empire State Building, lit up in red for the night. Louis couldn’t read his expression.

“Good to know?” Louis asked, hoping for the answer he wanted. 

“Yeah, I, um, think so. Yeah.” 

Louis figured that was all he was going to get out of him, so he started a new round of guessing why the lights were lit up those colors—his new favorite game—simply because he and Harry got sillier and sillier as the nights wore on and by the end they were always cackling with things that didn’t even make sense. 

That night was no different, and they talked until long after their game was over, Harry telling Louis about his friends from high school and how strange it was going back home after spending so much time in the city. Louis nodded along. He suspected he might someday know what Harry was talking about if he ever worked up the courage to go back home and see if anyone from his family still lived there. Enough time had passed that he assumed they had all moved on to their own cities with their own families. 

They sat in comfortable silence for awhile, side by side, their thighs pressed against each other and Harry’s head tilted against Louis’ shoulder. It wasn’t until Harry let out a sniffling sort of snore that Louis realized how much he really, _really_ didn’t want to leave Harry’s side. He had never slid into a friendship so easily. It was like they were two sides to the same coin, and with a sudden clarity Louis realized that his crush was becoming something deeper, something that he wasn’t going to be able to wave off easily when the semester ended and their schedules would change. Louis needed to hold on to him with a ferocity that scared him. 

And then he heard the birds start to chirp and knew that he needed to get home immediately, or else risk getting toasted by the early morning rays. He took one last long look at Harry, then shook him gently.

“Harry, we gotta go, like now.” Louis shook him a little harder and finally jolted his shoulder until Harry was blinking away the sleep from his green eyes. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to—” Harry cut himself off with a yawn as Louis pulled him to his feet. After a precarious walk down the stairs, where it seemed like Harry was relying more on Louis than himself, they were finally on the sidewalk. Every other time they had stayed up all night talking, Louis had walked Harry home like a gentleman, but time was not on his side this morning. 

“I really have to go,” Louis said. “Are you going to be okay to get home?”

Harry let out another yawn, but nodded at the same time. Then without a word he pulled Louis in for a tight hug. Louis wrapped one arm around his slim waist and with his other hand he grasped Harry’s neck and pulled him in even tighter. Louis hoped Harry was too tired to notice the deep breath he took, savoring Harry’s scent to tide him over until they saw each other again. 

“G’nite, Lou,” Harry grumbled as he stepped away. “Get home safe.” 

“You too, Harry.” Louis walked to end of the block and caught the first cab he saw, begging the driver to get him back as soon as possible, offering to double the fare if he got him back before the sun came up. 


	3. Chapter 3

There was something about this particular music shop that had Louis feeling right at home. Fleetwood Mac’s _Rumours_ was playing softly in the background as he, Zayn, and Harry walked around the shop, flipping through the rows and rows of secondhand vinyls. 

Harry and Louis had been bonding over their mutual love of the 70s; Harry because he was drawn to the aesthetics and the more mellow sounds of that generation, Louis because he mostly grew up during that time and had a idyllic life until he became a vampire. Not that his current life wasn’t idyllic; he was living in a sweet apartment in Manhattan, had a potential love interest now that he was _pretty sure_ Harry had been jealous of Niall, and had plenty of free time to do whatever he wanted, as long as it was at night. Which was the one thing that Harry seemed to cotton on to more than anything else regarding Louis’ vampirism.

Earlier that day even, Harry tried to get Louis and Zayn to hang out before sunset. Louis was quickly running out of believable excuses. Saying that he was a night owl only explained so much, and it was getting awkward. 

“How was the, uh, early dinner with your old friend, Stan, was it?” Harry seemed to read his mind with the timing of the question. “Did you end up with Italian?”

It was possible Louis had totally lied this time, something he had been able to avoid up until this point. He did have a childhood friend named Stan, but Louis currently had no idea where he was or what he was doing and he certainly had not eaten an early dinner with him. 

“Yeah, they had uh, great garlic bread. It was good. Caught up a bit. Nothing major to report. Family. Kids. No major complaints,” Louis said. Zayn snorted quietly. 

Harry’s face quirked into confusion. “I thought you said you guys went to high school together. Isn’t he a little young to…”

Maybe. Since Harry was under the impression that he was twenty-two. “High school sweetheart,” Louis cleared his throat. “True love. Knew right away, it’s gross really, how in love they are.”

Harry laughed. “Sounds like my parents.”

“Really? Tell me about it.”

And then Harry was launching into his parents’ courtship as Louis tried to drag his eyes away from Harry’s face (The perfect arch of his eyebrow, the strong jawline that Louis still wanted to bite, his tiny ears. Louis was so fucked.) to at least glance at the records he was idly flipping. 

Harry was on a tangent about a vacation they went on when he was younger when suddenly “Go Your Own Way” was cut short and Louis looked up to the man on the platform who was switching out the records playing over the sound system. He put on something that was uptempo with a pulsing beat and circular harmonies. Harry and Zayn were bouncing on their toes to the beat and Louis was concerned that they were going to start jumping at any moment. Neither seemed to be aware that they were doing it and Louis needed to get out of there before he was also sucked into that weird vortex of music. 

“Let’s get out of here,” he begged. 

Zayn rolled his eyes. “It’s called EDM and you need to broaden your musical tastes,” he said. 

“I don’t know why. The classics are classics for a reason. I don’t have time for this EM…”

“EDM. Electronic Dance Music,” Harry clarified. “And the classics are great, but everyone needs to try new things.”

Louis stuck his tongue out at Harry. And Zayn. 

“I just gotta…” Harry lifted the three records in his hand and motioned off to the register. 

“Meet you outside,” Louis said. He didn’t understand how anyone could listen to that without getting a headache. 

After a few minutes of Louis pacing back and forth in front of the store, and aggravatingly getting more used to the music he could still faintly hear, Harry and Zayn came back out. 

“H is coming over to our place,” Zayn said as he slung an arm around Louis’ shoulder. “I was telling him about our stereo system and he all but invited himself.”

A deep flush appeared on Harry’s cheeks as he sputtered, “No, it wasn’t… only if…”

“What? It’s not…” Louis tried to think and talk at the same time. He quickly ran through everything that might be out in plain sight that could give them both up in a moment if Harry walked through their doors. He couldn’t remember if he left his last blood bag out on the counter—something Zayn had repeatedly asked him not to do—and he’d have to hide all of his step-by-step instructions all over the apartment on how to work every single piece of electronics, and the curtains being drawn would be odd. He looked at Zayn in what he knew was wide-eyed panic and made a quick excuse. “Great! Okay, um, I actually have to run home, immediately… bathroom. Right. See you in a bit.” 

He turned and practically ran from the other two. As he was walking away he heard Zayn joke, “I warned him about going for Italian. Garlic never agrees with him.” 

Louis could honestly kick himself with that stupid excuse he came up with. 

By the time he got the apartment in visitor-friendly conditions, he had just enough time to swallow down a glass of water before Zayn unlocked the door. Louis peeked around the corner just in time to see Zayn enter. Harry was right on his heels, but instead of following Zayn in, there was a loud thunk and Harry bounced backwards with force as he hit the invisible barrier to their apartment. 

“Zayn, what the fuck?” Louis hissed as he ran to Harry’s aid.

“Harry!” Louis said when he got to his side. Harry’s brow was furrowed, understandably, and he was still rapidly blinking. “Come on in, let me get you a drink.”

Zayn at least looked appropriately abashed. “I forgot.”

Hitting the force field meant that Harry would be out of it for another minute or two, giving Louis and Zayn a moment to figure out what to do.

“You can’t just forget to invite him in. What the fuck.” Louis looked down at Harry sitting on the couch staring off into space. “What are we going to do now?”

“Get him some water. I’ll think of something.”

Louis couldn’t help himself from running his hand down Harry’s back as he tried to comfort him even though Harry probably had no idea what was going on. Reading about this happening still didn’t help Louis prepare for how scary it was to to see Harry in that state. 

He came back with the cold glass of ice water and put it on a coaster under Zayn’s watchful gaze. 

Then Zayn carefully cupped Harry’s chin with his hand and stared into his eyes. 

“No way. Zayn! Stop it!” Louis realized too late that Zayn was replacing his memory of the past few minutes. 

Louis yanked on Zayn’s shoulder to try and pull him away, but Zayn was already finished. 

“Louis! Chill! He’ll be fine in a moment.”

“You don’t know that for sure! They haven’t done long-term studies,” Louis said. “Just because we can do something to humans doesn’t mean we should.”

“Our other option was telling him the truth, which based on your panic earlier, I’m pretty sure you didn’t want to do. So maybe thanking me would be in order.”

“You know what?” Louis stood with his hands on his hips. “It’s time for you to go.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Get out of here. I’ll handle this.”

“Lou…”

“Zayn. Out. Now.”

With a deep sigh Zayn stood from where he was crouched in front of Harry and let himself out. Louis took his position and watched closely as Harry started to come to. 

“How ya feeling, H?”

“Got an awful headache.” Harry covered his eyes with the palm of his hand and scrubbed it down his face.

Louis grimaced a bit and hoped that what he was about to say jived with the memory Zayn had planted. 

“Yeah, hit your head pretty hard there. Why don’t you lie down and I’ll get you something so you’re more comfortable.”

Harry was already starting to lean over when he answered, “Yeah, good idea. But I still want to listen to the…” He lifted the plastic shopping bag with his albums. 

“’Course. Yeah. Let me…” Before making his way over to the record player, Louis gently pried the bag out of Harry’s hands and unwrapped the cellophane from the one that looked like it might be the softest music.

“Lou, you’re really the best, you know that?” Harry asked dreamily. 

Louis turned around to look at the man sprawled out on the couch and had to disagree. 

〰〰〰

The next time they all hung out, Harry and the coven ended up at Puck Fair again. Louis was at the bar, chatting with Deo, Niall’s cousin, when Harry surprised him by showing up a little earlier than he had planned to. Before Louis could stop him, Harry grabbed Louis’ full drink, a Bloody Maria, light on the tequila, and took a sip. Louis couldn’t help but gag a bit, if that had been him before he had turned, he’d definitely be vomiting. Harry managed a bit better, spitting most of it back into the glass, then wiping both the sides of his mouth and his tongue with the back of his hand. 

“What the fuck is that?” Harry honestly looked a bit green. 

Louis held the glass up to his nose and sniffed. It smelled fucking delicious. “Yo, Deo, think your mix has gone bad or something.” He pushed the glass across the bar. 

Deo held it up in confusion. “Really, I couldn’t sworn—”

“Dude, Harry here almost lost his cookies after a sip. I’d be careful with that stuff.”

Thankfully, Deo seemed to understand what Louis was trying to say. “What can I get you instead, on the house, of course.” 

They ordered a few pints, and Louis hoped that Harry believed the lie he had spun up. 

“I have to piss,” Harry shouted above the crowd once they were a few drinks in. 

“Downstairs,” Zayn said. “To the right.”

“Cool man, thanks.”

He was only gone a few seconds when Louis announced that he had to go too. 

“Have fun,” Zayn singsonged. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Louis caught up to Harry before just as he made it to the bottom of the stairs. Harry was fixing his hair in the large mirror along the wall opposite the bathroom doors. “Louis!” he exclaimed. They were the only two down there and Harry was still using his upstairs voice. 

Between the flush of his cheeks and the exuberance in which he was greeted, Louis found himself wanted to push Harry up against the wall and snog him senseless. His fangs dropped at the thought. It had been a long time since he wanted to hold someone down, to nose over their entire body, nipping and biting and scratching them, slowly moving lower and lower until they were both ready to scream unless he reached down and finally got to… Louis ran his tongue against the sharp points inside his mouth. He stood safely away from Harry as he got himself under control. Harry sensed he was there anyway, turning his head to catch Louis’ eye. 

He offered Harry a close-mouthed smile, not fully trusting that his fangs were fully retracted. Harry beckoned him over, and after a moment, Louis started to slowly walk over. 

He was a step away from the mirror’s reflection and stopped. Harry adjusted from looking at him directly, to watching in the mirror. He took a breath and moved forward again, this time with an audible gasp from Harry. 

“I thought… I… You’re…” Harry stumbled. 

Louis smirked. “I’m what?”

“Oh, um…” Harry collected himself enough to say, “You’re hot.”

Louis stepped up behind him and caught his eye in the mirror, mentally thanking whoever for installing aluminum—instead of silver-backed—mirrors in the bar. He leaned in and whispered just behind Harry’s ear, “You are too.” Without losing eye contact, he swiped his tongue along his bottom lip. Harry was practically putty in his arms. 

Louis backed up a few inches. He needed some space. “Gotta get back upstairs before they miss us.”

〰〰〰

The DJ put on Sinatra’s “New York, New York” which had everyone left in the bar singing along and also signaled that it was the last song of the night. As the last notes played, the lights came on, and Niall set to work closing out everyone’s tabs before they left. 

“Oh man,” Harry whined. “I’m not ready to go home yet.”

The others exchanged a look, and with a sigh, Louis nodded and agreed. 

“Is there an after-party?” Harry asked. 

“Something like that,” Zayn said. 

They all emptied their glasses and left them stacked for the barback. 

“You can’t tell anyone,” Liam said. 

“Seriously,” Zayn put on his best threatening face, “no one.”

Harry looked positively giddy at the secret. 

Louis rolled his eyes, but whispered nonetheless. “We’re going downstairs. It’s open for another few hours.”

In Louis’ defense, they did arrive closer to the middle of the night. And really, he couldn’t be blamed for losing track of time when Harry was in front of him and holding his attention. Even he admitted that he should have left when Zayn and Niall left. He definitely should have left when Liam tried to drag him out, but Louis and Harry were sharing the one corner booth, which happened to have tall, curved walls, which shut out most of the noise and distraction on the rest of the floor, so the ‘five minutes more, I swear’ that he promised Liam was true, at the time. But then he got lost in Harry’s slow drawl, the way he seemed to radiate heat, and instead of leaving the bar, he just inched closer to Harry, ostensibly to listen to yet another rambling story that Louis couldn’t get enough of. 

So the gong that rang out through the bar surprised Louis, since he apparently could not be held responsible enough to keep track of the time. 

“What’s that mean?” Harry asked, also, apparently, drawn out of their own little bubble. 

Louis couldn’t possibly explain that it was now sunrise, so that was the subtle warning for no one to go outside until the next gong. Louis was still searching for an explanation when Harry pulled out his phone. “Oh, shit. It’s seven. How’d that happen?”

Louis cursed quietly. There was no way to get out of this that wasn’t totally awkward or the truth. Louis peeked out of the booth to see that they were the only people left, other than Fionn, the day-shift bartender for the basement. Louis nodded at him, then ducked back fully into the booth.

“Guess we should get the bill and head home, huh?” Harry asked. 

“Er…” They had stopped drinking hours ago and Louis was pretty sure that Harry was as close to sober as he was. “Don’t really feel like leaving just yet.”

“Oh, okay. What—”

“Breakfast? I’m pretty sure we can get Fionn to whip us up something.”

“Or we could, I mean, we could, but we could also go somewhere else for like, a proper brunch.”

“Are you insinuating that Fionn can’t do a proper bunch?”

Harry laughed. “No, not at all, just… supposed to be a nice day. Thought maybe sun, and mimosas, they’d pair well with some avocado toast.”

“Sun’s overrated, don’t want to risk a burn on that sensitive skin of yours. And Bloody Marys, I think, a bit more robust after a night of drinking. And I’m not sure about, whaddaya say, avocado toast? What’s wrong with eggs and sausage?”

“Eggs do sound great, actually.”

“I’m certainly not going to keep you trapped here, but like, I think I’m going to hang for a bit longer. I’m not going to be offended if you leave though.”

Harry nodded, and before long, breakfast was ordered and eaten. Then a rousing game of darts started up. Before long it was late afternoon, and Harry looked like he was getting seriously drowsy. 

“Louuu,” he whined. “Come on, I think it’s time to go.”

Louis tried to stealthily pull out his phone. Zayn had told him about this one insanely helpful app that told him the sunrise and sunset times for each day. He definitely wasn’t as smooth as he thought, since Harry slid over to look over his shoulder. Harry smelled amazing, despite having been at a bar over twelve hours. There were notes of sweat, but it there was also an undercurrent of his spicy cologne and it was so raw that Louis’ cock took an immediate interest; it was an impressive feat after three decades of celibacy. 

Harry’s thigh was pressed against his, meaty, and perfect and _right there._ Louis couldn’t stop himself from laying his hand on it, then giving a gentle squeeze. Harry gasped. He looked down to where Louis was now caressing his leg, slowly, so Harry could easily back away if he wanted. 

Harry stayed put, only moving to look back up at Louis’ face. 

Louis leaned in, ever so slightly, his breath hitching unexpectedly. He flicked his eyes from Harry’s lips, those gorgeous full lips that he could stare at all day, up to Harry’s eyes. He needed to confirm that he was reading the signs correctly, that Harry was maybe, possibly, as charged up as he was. Harry’s eyes were dilated, and there was no way that Louis was making this up, it was like something within Harry was pulling Louis in, and he was helpless to resist. 

Harry brought his hand to his own thigh and brushed his pinky against Louis’. Louis moved in closer. Harry shuddered at their touch, and practically melted into Louis. Louis placed his other hand along Harry’s strong jaw, thumbing at the tiny stubble. 

In the next moment, they were kissing, just the gentlest of touches at first, a few quick pecks, and once Louis was convinced that his fangs were going to stay retracted, he tentatively flicked his tongue out and into Harry’s waiting mouth. Louis couldn’t help but groan. He was actually doing this, kissing Harry in public—it was an empty bar, but still—this was already topping his list of hottest moments and they weren’t even really doing anything. 

Before long, Harry pulled away. His lips were slick and practically rubbed raw and Louis loved that look on him. Harry’s hair was a total nest and he was flushed as he slumped down against Louis. “’M, sleepy,” Harry muttered. 

Louis slung his arm around the back of Harry’s neck, providing a bit of cushioning and Harry rested his head on Louis’ shoulder. Within minutes, Harry’s breathing had evened out and Louis reached into his bag and pulled out a book he had been meaning to finish. 

When Louis heard the gong again, he gently shook Harry. “I’m ready to go,” Louis finally whispered. “’S okay if I walk you home?”

Harry slowly blinked awake, already biting his bottom lip. “Only if I get another kiss good night on my doorstep,” he bargained through a yawn. 

Louis was never going to pass up an offer like that. 

〰〰〰

“Z, I’m telling you, this was like, next level,” Louis said for what was probably the third time.

“Lou, I’m telling you, I don’t want any more details.”

Louis took a sip of his beer, then scanned the other people sitting at the bar. He took another sip and swiped a hand through his hair. “He did this thing with his tongue—”

“Louis William Tomlinson. I swear to all that is unholy that I will spike you myself if you do not stop talking about it. I made you, and I can just as easily unmake you.”

“But what do I do? Do you think he likes me?” 

“He kissed you back, right? Don’t answer that. I know, the tongue thing—” A group of drunken, loud women walked by, a fair number of them somehow managing to not-so-subtly knock into Zayn. “Fucking hell,” he muttered. 

“Were they trying to get your attention? Do they know this is a gay bar?” Louis felt a little surge of pride at saying those words without whispering.

“I could be bi.”

“But you’re not. And you’re talking to me. About Harry. Please continue.” Louis gave the group of women the stink eye and hoped they would stay clear next time. 

Zayn flagged down the bartender and motioned for another round. “I think he likes you and I think you’re already in way over your head.”

“I know.” Louis finished his beer before the bartender brought over the next round. “Hey, let’s pretend this is an unrelated question. Has anyone ever guessed that you’re a… you know.”

“No.” Zayn paid the bartender and threw in a wink, which made him blush. It was almost too easy for Zayn. “I feel like your hypothetical question is really concerning.”

“I think he might suspect? Like, I feel like he keeps trying to… I don’t know. Trap me?”

“Trap you?!”

“Not like in a hunter way. But, in a… trying to get me to look into mirrors and eat garlic and go out in the sun kind of way.”

Zayn looked skeptical. “I bet that’s not at all the case and you’re just being paranoid.”

“What if I’m not? What if he already suspects? Don’t you think I should just tell him?”

“No.”

“But I hate lying to him,” Louis grumbled. 

“I lied earlier. You’re in way, way, _way_ too deep already.”

“I hate this.”

“I don’t think you should tell him unless you plan on feeding from him.” Zayn suddenly perked up at that. “Hey, look, a solution to all your problems. If you bite him he’ll probably be smart enough to put all the pieces together himself. Then you can—”

“Absolutely not. I’m not using Harry for that.”

Zayn pouted. “It’s a great idea and you should reconsider.”

Louis knew he wouldn’t, but nodded anyway. He was for sure in over his head.

〰〰〰

Louis went over their kisses again and again in his head. He wanted to do it again, do it every day, all the time, if they could. They hadn’t talked about it, what that night meant or if Louis could kiss him again, but with the way Harry’s eyes would sometimes wander down to Louis’ lips and pause there, as if he had no control over where he was looking, Louis thought maybe he had a shot. Louis knew he was being a coward, that he should just talk to Harry. He hoped this was actually mutual, but if he was wrong, if it had been a one night only, drunken friendly thing, Louis didn’t want to fuck up their friendship. Their nights on the roof were perfect and he wasn’t ready for them to end.

“Lou, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?”

Louis pulled his eyes away from Harry’s lips when he realized Harry was talking to him. He followed Harry’s gaze to the Empire State Building—blue and green—and forced himself to keep looking at it instead of at the beauty beside him. 

“That’s too hard of a question,” Louis finally responded. “Too many places I’d like to see.” Chances were he’d be able to get to see them all too. Once he stopped mooching off of Zayn and had his own fortune stashed away he could travel anywhere he liked, whenever he liked; though it was a tad depressing to think that he wouldn’t have anyone special to travel with. The coven was wonderful, obviously, but they didn’t always get him the way that, Harry, for example, seemed to understand him at the deepest level. 

“I’d say that’s a cop-out, but honestly, same.” Harry sighed. “I want to see everywhere. South America and Asia and Africa… I’ve never even been to Europe. Never even been to California. How can I know where I want to live if I haven’t even seen anywhere.”

“If I handed you a magic plane ticket that allowed you to go anywhere, where would you go first?” Maybe someday Louis’d be able to basically do that exact thing for him. 

“London.”

“London?”

“Yeah, we were talking about it in class. Like going from an older city to modern and what those changes look like.”

“Hm.” Louis had never really considered that, how different the city itself could be. 

“We do so much city planning you know, like hypothetically, in class, it’d be so cool to see what parts could live on like, what _actually_ makes a difference.”

“London it is.” Louis said. “Someday we’ll go.”

“What an incredible opportunity, getting to travel around the world.”

“Did you travel a lot when you were a kid?

“Nah.” Harry shook his head. “Family vacations weren’t really our thing.”

Louis nodded along. He missed his family something fierce. It was without a doubt the worst part of his whole situation, losing touch with them. He wasn’t even sure where they were. New York was supposed to be a stopgap, but the longer he was here, the harder the idea of going upstate to track them down became. 

“What about you?” Harry asked. 

“No, there were too many of us to really go away. Mom couldn’t really afford it.” They had already not-talked about Louis’ family, he had done a good job avoiding and ducking around Harry’s questions over the past few months, but now Louis felt like talking. 

“I really miss them. But it’s, like, complicated, you know? I guess all families are in their own way. I haven’t seen them in a long time, and even if knew where they lived these days, it’s probably best all around I didn’t see them again. I wouldn’t even know where to begin talking to them again.” 

Harry wrapped Louis up in a hug, he was stiff at first, family stuff always put him on edge, but Harry’s hands rubbing Louis’ back felt so good that he relaxed into the hug. Somehow Harry was always able to have that reaction on him. 

“Hey, you know what I think it’s time for?”

Louis looked to the sky to try and sense how much more time he had. “What?”

“Silly selfie.” 

Louis crossed his eyes to hopefully make Harry laugh, and possibly distract him, when he asked, “What’s that?” 

Harry burst out laughing. “You’re so fucking funny,” he said as he fished out his phone then stood behind Louis. While Louis stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes, Harry gave him bunny ears and did an exaggerated kissy face. They were both giggling when they saw the final shot, and Harry messaged the picture over to Louis. Louis loved that these new-fangled devices didn’t have any mirrors in them, and he was grateful Zayn had told him so. Next time he saw Zayn he’d have to ask him to define ‘selfie’. 

“Let’s get you home,” Harry said. “And I have to get started on my homework. That essay is due on Wednesday. Want to come over tonight and proof it before I turn it in?”

Harry batted his eyelashes at Louis, who could do nothing but groan. “Ugh. Can’t. We have a team trivia practice tonight. I swear Zayn’s going to wear us out before the season even starts. And who practices for pub trivia?”

Harry laughed. “Oh come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Clearly you’ve never seen how intense Zayn is about his trivia.” Louis put his hand out and clasped it around Harry’s. “But you should text me all night if you need a distraction.

Louis was quite proud of his newfound talent of typing with his thumbs, even if he was ‘as slow as an old man with arthritis’ as Harry claimed. 

“You know I’m going to anyway. Seems like I can’t go more than an hour without talking to you,” Harry said. 

It was true, but Louis couldn’t even bring himself to care about how codependent they had become. He squeezed Harry’s hand as they made their way down the stairs.

〰〰〰

The booze cruise around the city was an excellent idea. Louis loved how seamlessly Harry seemed to fit in with his friends, and with alcohol as a PDA lubricant, Louis and Harry were attached to each other’s sides the whole ride. Harry looked even hotter than normal, which Louis didn’t think was possible, but he was attributing it to the leather jacket, the tiny bit of scruff, and the 35mm camera he had slung around his neck. 

After more drinks than he cared to think about, he was on Harry’s lap, one arm wrapped around his shoulder as they periodically got lost in each other and started making out instead of talking to their friends. 

Liam, Zayn, and Niall threw things at them to try and break them up, things like ice cubes, balled up napkins, stirrers, and a lime wedge. Louis either ignored them or launched a defense that was really just throwing the item back in their general direction.

Once the coven had enough, Liam pulled on their wrists and dragged them to the dance floor. It was there that Harry finally pulled out his camera.

“Smile!”

“H, these pictures are never going to come out,” Louis said, loud enough to be heard over the dance floor.

Harry pouted a bit. “They might…”

“Fine! It’s your film you’re wasting.” Louis went back to shaking his hips and giving Harry what he hoped were sultry glances as he tried to dance to what was considered music these days. 

Once Louis was sufficiently sweaty and parched from the dancing, he dragged Harry over to the bar on the top deck, where he thought they might have more privacy. They didn’t, but at least they were strangers and not their catcalling friends.

Harry pushed Louis up against the safety railing, and ran a hand up Louis’ side, making him shiver from the light touch. Then he pulled Louis into a deep kiss, one that made Louis’ world stop and anything other than the feel of Harry’s lips on his, Harry’s tongue caressing his, Harry’s body heat keeping him warm, was forgotten. He forgot enough about his surroundings to start grinding on Harry; he had been turned on all night from their constant contact, but getting to crowd into Harry’s space, slowly and as discreetly as possible rutting against Harry’s thigh had rocketed him to almost impossible hardness. 

He whined into Harry’s mouth on a particularly thorough thrust of his hips, and instead of meeting him halfway, Harry pulled away leaving Louis dazed and weak on his feet. 

“Come on, I want to get some shots of the city.”

“I want to keep kissing you,” Louis pouted. 

“You can kiss me all night, once we get off this boat. But for now, I want to see if this old thing still works.”

“Coming back to my place tonight?”

“First you model with your clothes on, then maybe you can model with your clothes off.”

That was a plan Louis could get behind. 

〰〰〰

Louis awoke from his sleep terribly confused by the cacophony of noises that had roused him. His phone was ringing, someone was banging at his door, and his name was being shouted repeatedly.

He grabbed a pair of hopefully clean boxers from his floor and ambled over to the front door. On the other side of the door stood Harry. As soon as Louis unlocked and opened the door a bit, Harry was pushing his way inside. 

“Hey, H. Welcome. What’s going on?”

Harry was visibly distraught as he paced in front of the couch instead of sprawling on the couch like he normally did. “Why don’t you tell me, Louis.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Louis wiped some crusties out of his eye. 

Harry flapped a brightly colored envelope around. “You have to explain this.”

“I don’t know what it is.” He held out his hand for Harry to pass it over to him. 

As soon as Louis realized it was an envelope full of pictures he realized where he went wrong. 

“Where the fuck are you, Lou? I don’t understand where you are.”

Louis slowly opened the flap and peered inside. The first picture was a gorgeous shot of the Statue of Liberty out of focus in the background, and the safety railing of the boat in the foreground. Louis remembered Harry taking that photo, the one that was supposed to be of him. 

He flipped through a few others: the one of the bartender and a floating champagne glass since Louis was missing, a crowd shot of strangers dancing without Louis and Zayn’s arms slung over each other’s shoulders, a selfie they had tried to take but instead was just Harry’s face smooshed against open space. 

“Don’t tell me you’re a vamp—”

“I’m a vampire.”

“But the mirrors!”

“Backed with aluminum these days, not silver.”

“Garlic?”

“Total myth, although, it doesn’t totally agree with my stomach.”

“But I’ve seen you—”

“Not during the day.”

“And Zayn?”

“He’s my maker.”

“Right.”

Harry looked like he had a lot more to say but couldn’t settle on a question. Louis was willing to wait it out as long as possible.

“Did you befriend me so you could bite me or suck me or whatever it is you do?”

Louis’ patience quickly wore out when he realized how little Harry thought of him. “First of all, you befriended me. I was sitting there minding my own business when you walked up and wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Harry’s eyes widened as his jaw dropped. He lifted a finger as he interjected, “Hey, wait, that’s not—”

“And also,” Louis continued, “don’t you think if I was going to bite you, I would’ve done it by now? Dragged you off to some dark alley like a bad made-for-TV movie and left you there to die? Instead of welcoming you into my home, introducing you to my friends, talking all night—almost every night—to you. Guess we’re not nearly as close as I thought we were.”

“I think I’m going to go.” Harry turned and put his hand on the knob.

No. No. That’s not what he wanted. “H, I’m sorry, I should have told you. And sorry about the outburst, it’s just, like, hit a nerve.”

“I’ll call you later.”

“Will you?” Louis reached out than snatched his hand back before making contact with Harry’s shoulder. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to touch now. Wasn’t sure if everything was ruined now. 

“Yeah, I’ll… I will. I just need to process.”

“Okay.” As the door opened and Harry walked out there was nothing Louis could do. “You know where to find me.” 

Harry turned and gave a sad smile, then walked away. Louis was pretty sure he was never going to hear from him again. 


	4. Chapter 4

The text came about two weeks later. _I miss you._

Louis didn’t care how desperate he looked. Less than five seconds later he was waiting for Harry to pick up his phone. Less than three minutes later he was out the door and heading to Harry’s apartment. 

He could barely contain his glee at Harry reaching out. Zayn had stayed positive, but after the first day Louis had given up all hope that he’d ever see or hear from Harry again. Zayn also pointed out far too often that if he’d simply go to work instead of calling out sick on the nights Harry had classes, he’d get the chance to talk to Harry, but Louis really did want to give him space if that’s what he was asking for. 

It almost felt too good to be true and Louis promised himself that he was never going to lie, outright or by omission, to Harry again. 

By the time Harry had buzzed him in the building and he was standing outside of Harry’s door, he was bouncing on the balls of his feet and ready to jump into Harry’s arms. 

Harry opened the door and despite trying to tamp down his smile—it never worked, no matter how hard Harry tried—Louis knew instantly that they were going to be okay. 

Standing in the doorway, one forearm hooked around the back of the door and the other leaning against the door jamb, they just eyed each other. Louis had no idea how he lasted two weeks without seeing Harry’s smug face or hearing his deep laugh. 

“So, you going to invite me in?” Louis jokes. 

“Do I have to?”

“To be polite yes. Because of the other thing… no. That, um, got twisted somewhere along the way. You can’t come into ours without…”

Harry’s already moving away from the door and into his apartment. “Guess that makes sense, protection from, like, whoever. Or, whatever.”

Louis was about to apologize again, for that night at his place, but remembered Zayn wiped Harry’s memory. He could explain that another night. Louis had bigger problems to fix at the moment.

They settled in on the couch before launched into his speech. “I know I should’ve told you, like, especially once you started testing me or whatever. But…” Louis slid his hand down his thighs. “I had never told anyone before, so I didn’t know how. I know it sounds like a copout, and it totally is, but also, how was I supposed to ease my way into that one?”

“No, no.” Harry waves off his apology. “I’m sorry. It just took me by surprise, you know? I had a few friends make some comments since you could only hang at night, and it sort of became an ongoing joke… which, I guess not so much any more.” Harry pulled Louis’ hand into his. “And I know you would never hurt me. I really do. I think it was just the shock of it, you know? You hear vampire and all you think is blood and—” Harry shivered instead of finishing his sentence. 

“That’s understandable too.” Louis said, easily accepting Harry’s apology. “I overreacted because the idea of hurting you was so ludacris. I promise that I will never. And neither will the others.”

“Zayn?”

“Yeah, and Niall and Liam too.”

“What the fuck? How did I miss all of that?”

Louis shrugged. “Too busy paying attention to me, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Harry gently elbowed him in the side. “It is easy for me to get distracted when you’re around.” Harry moved in slowly for a kiss, which Louis more than happily accepted. 

After a few tender moments, Harry abruptly pulled back. “What about everything else?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like the bats and super hearing and sparkling in the sun. Is any of that true?”

Louis laughed. “No. I definitely don’t turn into a bat. Can’t fly either. No super hearing. And less sparkle, more immediate and terrible sunburn that would eventually fry us.”

“Oh.” Harry sounded disappointed. “So nothing’s true at all?”

“I’ve got fangs! And the drinking blood thing is true too. But like, animal blood is fine so I haven’t bit anyone yet.”

“I want to see your fangs. Please?” Harry pouted. 

“No need for the dramatics.” Louis kissed the tip of his nose. Then he extended his fangs so the sharp points were visible. 

Harry sucked in a breath. “Are they as sharp as they look?”

“Yeah, pretty sure you’d get pricked if you touched them.”

“They’re really hot.” Harry continued to look with wide eyes and Louis would’ve been embarrassed by the attention but he was pretty sure in a few moments he was going to have Harry’s mouth on his, and then he’d do just about anything to make that happen. 

〰〰〰

The thumping bass of the music and loud roar of the Friday night crowd were thankfully muffled as the coven and Harry sat in the corner booth in the basement. They were the only people down there, other than the occasional person coming down for the restroom. 

“I have, like, a million questions,” Harry said. 

“We’ll answer what we can.” Zayn shrugged. 

“You’re their… maker?” Harry asked Zayn. 

Everyone at the table nodded. “Yes, but they all wanted it,” Zayn said defensively. 

Liam said, “He’d never attack us. We just… clicked, I guess? I don’t really know what forces brought us together, but we always knew we were going to be best friends.”

“It’s cool too, cuz like, we can split apart for decades if we need some time away from each other, but it’s nice to have family to come back too,” Niall added. 

“Aww, Nialler,” Louis cooed and tweaked Niall’s nipple. “You love us.”

“You’re not mind controlling them to say that, are you?” Harry asked. 

“Nah,” Niall said. 

“That’s only when absolutely needed. Sorry about that, by the way.” Zayn confessed. 

“What?” Harry squawked. “What are you talking about?”

“The day you ‘hit your head,’” Louis says, making air quotes. 

“Ran straight into the barrier. Guess neither of us invited you in,” Zayn explained. 

“Don’t know how that trope got so twisted,” Niall said. 

Louis ran a hand over Harry’s temple. “Still mad at Zayn for doing that.”

“What’d he do?” Harry asked. 

“Erased the previous minute from your hippocampus.”

Louis scowled at Zayn.

“He’s fine.” Liam said. “It’s not like you remember every minute of your day. These beers are probably more harmful.”

Harry looked confused as he brought his pint up to his lips. After a long pull he put it down and looked at Louis. “I thought you said there weren’t powers.”

Niall laughed. 

“No, uh, I said that _I_ didn’t have powers. But, um…”

“The rest of us do,” Liam clarified. 

“Oh, so why don’t you?” Harry asked. 

“It’s complicated.” Louis took a drink. 

Niall rolled his eyes. “It’s really not mate.”

“It’s Louis’ choice, leave him alone,” Zayn said. 

Louis scoffed. “Like you haven’t been mentioning it at least every week for months now.”

“You are running out of time, Lou,” Liam said. 

“Wait, what? Someone has to fill me in,” Harry said. “Like, if you can, I mean.”

“This is all you.” Zayn pointed at Louis. 

“I could get them… the like, powers. If I wanted.”

“It’s stupid that you haven’t already.” Niall said, not for the first time. 

Louis squirmed under everyone’s gaze. “I’m supremely grossed out about the idea of biting someone.”

“If you do it and hate it, then you never have to do it again.” Liam added, as though it was brand new information. 

“I know… but like…” Louis shuddered at the thought. 

“Were you grossed out when Zayn bit you?” Harry asked. 

“No, because it felt amazing and also because I wasn’t drinking his blood.”

“So if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it.” Harry shrugged. 

“We’re worried he’s going to regret it.” Zayn clarified. 

“He has thirty-five years, and his deadline is in a few months, if he doesn’t do it by then, he’ll never get them,” Liam said. 

“I’ll still be a vamp, but just not with the…” He quickly mimed a cone against each ear and then binoculars.

“But that’s the best part of being a—” 

“Niall! We know your opinions on it. Can you just… not… for one fucking night?” Louis was so done with this conversation. “Let’s talk about literally anything else.”

Zayn sighed. “Harry, what else do you want to know?”

Harry took a deep breath. “Hey Lou, is this why, uh, it’s complicated with your family?”

Zayn let out a low whistle. “Just going for it, aren’t you?”

Louis rolled his eyes. For literally anyone else that question would probably be off-limits but he had no problem telling Harry. “Yeah, I… it’s weird, you know? We were always super close and I didn’t realize just how much I was going to miss them. I sorta got blinded by the allure of being a vampire or whatever. But that part really, really sucks. I think about them every single day. Zayn says it gets easier, but…” 

“It does, eventually,” Zayn said. Niall and Liam nodded. 

Louis shrugged. “It’s hard to actually imagine, like, never seeing them again. It still doesn’t feel real sometimes.”

“Eh,” Harry scratched the back of his neck. “Not that hard. I haven’t talked to my parents in years. Don’t really plan on it either, after the falling out we had.” He took a sip of his drink. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bring the whole mood down. Hey! Another question! What can you tell me about werewolves?”

They spent the rest of the night answering the rest of Harry’s questions and getting drunk, until Liam announced that it was almost time and they needed to get going. 

Harry hung back a little at the bottom of the stairs and let the others go up first. Like a lovesick puppy Louis lingered with him. 

“I just want to say…” Harry pinched his lip with his finger. 

“Yes?”

“I don’t want to turn this into, like, a thing, and I can definitely drop it if you never want me to mention it again…”

“Harold, just tell me.”

“If you change your mind and you do want to, you know, you could um… feed from me. I’d be okay with it if you were able to get…”

Louis pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m not going to change my mind. But, that’s very sweet of you to offer.”

“Wanna come back to mine?”

“Oh! No, you should come back to mine. I have a new record I want to play you.” It was possible he had spent entirely too much money on overnight shipping, but when the record store was able to track down this one particular album, Louis couldn’t care less about the cost. If it was going to make Harry happy, there was a dangerous chance that Louis was going to make it happen. 

〰〰〰

It was a few nights later when Harry brought it up again. He was stocking Louis’ woefully under-filled refrigerator with some food he could eat when he was over. He pushed the blood bags to the side, and slid in a bag of tangerines. 

“You know, if you wanted, I’d be, uh, willing,” Harry said. 

Louis looked up from the magazine he was reading. “Willing to what?”

Harry blushed a deep scarlet, blood rushing to his cheeks and his chest and the tops of his ears. He glanced over at the fridge, like he could just hide himself in there. Then he shrugged before squaring up and meeting Louis’ eye. “If you wanted to bite me.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Louis went back to reading like Harry hadn’t said anything at all. He wasn’t entertaining the idea and was more than okay with simply pretending Harry was still unloading groceries. 

“I know you think I’m being impulsive.”

Louis still didn’t lookup from the magazine. 

“And you told Zayn you weren’t interested. But that can’t be true, can it? Who turns down superpowers? No one!”

“Have you never read a comic?” Louis asked. 

“Well, not really, actually. But I’ve seen the movies. Iron Man and the rest of those Marvel movies.”

“They made a—Iron Man? What?”

“Yeah, Robert Downey Jr—”

“Who?” Louis interrupted. 

“Nevermind, it’s not important.” Harry shook his head as he sat next to Louis on the couch. 

“My point is that superheroes are always complaining. Like you’d think they’d be really cool, but actually, they always turn out to be a burden. ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ and all that,” Louis reasoned. 

“Sounds like you’re scared.” Harry shrugged again and reached for the remote. 

“Pfffft. Not scared. I am an actual vampire, you know.”

“But not like…” Harry bit his lip as he thought. Louis considered warning him to watch the words that were about to come out of his mouth, but then Harry was speaking and it was too late. “A real vampire.”

Louis reached over and snatched the remote from Harry’s hands. He turned the TV off and tossed the remote to his side. “I’d like you to leave,” Louis said. 

“Wait. What?”

Louis swallowed down the anger that was mounting in his gut. It was probably a good thing he didn’t have super strength because he’d probably pick Harry up and force him out. As things stood though, all Louis could really do was forcefully insist. 

“You heard me. I think it’s time for you to go.”

“But, why? If you don’t want to bite me, that’s fine. I’m not going to, like, force you to. I just thought it could be a bit of fun.”

“I might not have super strength, or insanely good hearing, or the ability to move fast enough to practically teleport, but I am still a real vampire.”

“Oh, no.” Harry flapped his hand around dismissively. “Of course you are. I didn’t mean, like—”

“You did mean it. You’ve read one too many Anne Rice novels and suddenly anyone not fitting into your super narrow version of a vampire isn’t good enough for you.”

“No. No no no. No. Please, that’s really not what I—”

“I died. _Died_. I wet myself out of fear, a moment before it happened. Do you know how embarrassing that is, that that’s my very last human memory? My mom had to bury me, had to plan my funeral. I woke up in a nailed-shut coffin underground and had to claw my way out. I traveled through war-torn countries so I could find out what it meant and what I became and learn about all the myths and legends. Zayn dragged me back to this fucking place with these… these.” Louis picked up his phone and threw it against the wall. “I don’t know how anything works.” 

Harry’s eyes were glassy with unshed tears. “Sorry. I’m so, so sorry—”

Louis ran out of steam for his rant. He spoke softly, “I am a vampire. Even if I’m not a cool one, it still counts. I am what I am.”

Harry reached out for Louis’ arm. He ran his hand down his forearm, gently tapped at his wrist, then took Louis’ hand in his. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s fine. I get why, like, everyone wants me to change. I just didn’t expect it to come from you. I thought…”

Harry gripped his hand tighter. “What did you think?”

Louis shook his head. “Nothing. It’s stupid.”

Harry rubbed his hand for a bit longer, though the mood in the room had shifted considerably and thrum of regret hung in the air. “Do you want to watch something? Could give you a bit of a cuddle.”

Louis was feeling all out of sorts. It was a bad end to a long day and he really wanted to curl up in his own bed, alone, and sleep for another decade. Then Harry would’ve long forgotten about him and he could move on. “Actually, I think I might just got to bed.”

“Oh. Right. Okay.” Harry’s pout bothered Louis more than he cared to admit. 

“I’ll call you,” Louis added, lamely. 

“Are you sure I can’t—”

“H, I really think I need to be alone for a bit. But we’re fine, yeah?”

“Oh, yeah, I mean, I am? I hope we’re…” 

“Cool, so get home safe.”

“I will, and again, I’m really sorry about what I said.”

“It’s fine. Totally fine. Night, H.”

“Night, Lou.”

Louis realized he had all but pushed Harry out the door. The loneliness was already seeping into his bones as he shuffled into his room, pulled the drapes closed, and crawled into his bed. 

〰〰〰

“Louis, where the fuck are you?” The door slammed shut and Niall stomped through the apartment.

“In here,” Louis answered. He was lying in his bed, reading a book, same as he had been for the past few days. 

“Dude you have to get up.” Liam was hot on Niall’s heels. 

Louis wedged a bookmark in his place and set the book down as the rest of the coven walked into his room. “I’ve been up. I didn’t realize you guys were looking for me.”

“Haven’t left the apartment in days,” Zayn said. 

“Just thinking.” 

“About what?” Liam asked

“What makes a vampire a vampire. If, without powers, I’m going to drag you down.”

“You know we’ll support you no matter what,” Liam said.

“Yeah, you’ve supported me almost thirty-five years. But like… 700 years from now, might be a different story.”

“Lou, that’s not going to happen.” Niall threw an arm around him. 

“It might though.”

“Dude, even if it does, that’s not a reason to do it.” Zayn rolled his eyes. 

“Of course it is.”

“Don’t you dare do this because of us.” Zayn sounded angry. “I know that I’ve been, uh, pressuring you a bit. But it really is your decision to make. And if you don’t want powers, that’s fine too. We’ll still love you for eternity.”

“You guys are the sappiest shitheads.” Louis smirked. 

“Way to ruin the moment,” Niall said. 

“Also, call Harry. I’m sure he’s moping even more than you are,” Liam said.

“Dunno what to say to him.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Zayn said. “Know you will.”

Louis knew he would too. He still had a bit of time to work it out, and if nothing else, then he’d stay exactly who he was, which was fine. He just had to consider if it was worth the risk, he knew it was stupid, but he still felt like if he went through with this, that’d he’d well and truly be a vampire. Which, judging the rest of his coven, might be a-okay.

As the rest of the vampires split and went to their own rooms, Louis tiptoed after them and watched as Liam followed Zayn into his. He knew it, but it was still nice to have his suspicions confirmed.

The big problem was, Harry had worked his way into Louis’ non-beating heart. He spent the day and night and day again stewing, knowing he needed to apologize and call Harry and also maybe kinda admit that he was fucking scared. He knew Harry was sorry, knew he was from the moment he closed his mouth and realized what he had said. But accepting Harry’s apology meant that he also had to consider that Harry had a point. 

He picked up the apartment landline and dialed Harry’s number from memory.

Harry’s phone rang and rang and eventually went to voicemail, a deeper and slower version of Harry’s voice asking him politely to leave a message. 

“Hey H. It’s me. Uh. Louis. I don’t know if you’ll ever want to talk to me again, but if you do, know that I’m ready to apologize. You know where to find me.” He hesitated, wrapped the phone cord around his finger a few times, and finally said, quietly, “Miss you.”

As he hung up the phone he was already regretting the decision. He was always playing his hand too early. There was nothing he could do now but wait. 

He had barely made it over to the couch before the phone on the wall was ringing. He pivoted and picked it up.

“Okay, guys,” he shouted down the hall. “I’m going to Harry’s. Don’t wait up.”

All three of them popped their heads out of their doors, and Liam was topless. Perhaps it was better when he didn’t _know_ what was going on. 

“Go get ’im, Chief,” Niall said. 

Liam tried to wink. “Have fun tonight.”

Zayn mouthed ‘proud of you’ then stuck his tongue out like a child and pushed Liam back inside before shutting his door. 

〰〰〰

Louis flung himself into Harry’s arms, roommates be damned, as soon as Harry opened the door. It was ridiculous that he wanted to cry in that moment, since he had no tears and his heart wasn’t beating any faster, er—at all, but some human reactions hadn’t yet been unlearned. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Louis couldn’t stop apologizing as Harry held him. 

“No, I’m sorry, I know I pushed when I shouldn't've.”

“It’s just… like poking that bit I’m the most insecure about. You didn’t know… It wasn’t… You’re forgiven is what I’m trying to say. I know you didn’t do it on purpose to piss me off.”

“I would never. I… really like you, Lou. Vampire or human, super vampire or not, either way, you’re the one I want to spend my time with.”

“Come here, Harry.” Louis thumbed over Harry jawline and tangled is fingers in Harry’s curls. He moved in a bit, then checked to see if Harry was still okay with what he was about to do. When Harry didn’t move away, when the corners of his mouth turned into a small smile, Louis pressed forward the rest of the way and kissed the smile right off his face. 

“Mmm, can we, couch?” Harry asked after a few minutes of heavy kissing in the doorway. That was the best idea Louis had heard in a long while. 

Harry practically launched himself on Louis as soon as they sat down. 

“Wait. Wait, Styles, I gotta…” Louis gently pushed him away so he had a little bit of room to say what he needed to say. “I’ve made a decision, and I want to talk it out, let you know.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I, uh, I’m going to get over myself and just do it.”

“Do what?” Harry asked.

“Gonna bite someone. Get those, uh, powers that everyone thinks are so special.”

“You don’t need powers to be special, Lou. You’re special all on your own.” Harry added a cheeky wink at the end of his over-the-top declaration. “You give any thought to who the lucky human is going to be?”

“Some.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, was thinking a certain curly-haired boy might be my tastiest option. If his offer is still on the table.”

Harry’s smile was something brilliant. “Yeah, still on the table. Happy to help, like, you know… whenever you want.” 

“I don’t know when… seems like I got to find the perfect moment. And are you really sure? You can back out at anytime, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know. I’m still willing. Whenever you want.”

Louis still couldn’t believe Harry had walked into his life and taken over like this. “Yeah, yeah. I know. You’re really something else, you know that?”

Harry smirked. “I want to kiss you some more.”

“Oh really?” Louis laughed. 

“Yeah, I really do.” 

Louis laughed some more before he finally got himself under control enough to make out with Harry right there on the couch. 

〰〰〰

“Styles, come on. You have to tell me where we’re going.” Louis propped his feet up on the dashboard and pulled his oversized hoodie closer to his body. 

Harry laughed. It was at least the tenth time Louis asked since he had gotten in the car. “Patience, child. We’ll be there soon.” 

“Not a child.” Louis pouted. He was never particularly good at sitting still in a car and also hated surprises, so this was his own special kind of hell. 

Harry had called him and said to pack a bag for a few days and come downstairs as quickly as he could. They were in the car all of fifteen minutes and Louis hadn’t stopped complaining the whole time. 

“Then stop acting like one. Honestly, we’ll be there in like, twenty minutes.”

Louis didn’t bother to respond, instead choosing to change the radio to the classic rock station. Harry reached over and held Louis’ hand over the console. 

It wasn’t too much longer before they pulled into a Residence Inn just out of the city. 

“If you were going for romantic, there are a lot of hotels in the city that would’ve fit the bill. No need to drag me out to the ’burbs.”

“You’re impossible,” Harry said. He turned off the car with a push of a button. “Come on.” 

Louis was getting better at not reacting to things he never could have fathomed, so instead of dropping his jaw and pestering Harry with questions about key fobs, which he learned about when Harry picked him up in the rental car, he turned his attention elsewhere. 

“Wait! First, I just want to…” Harry turned to see what Louis needed, and Louis cupped his chin and brought him in for a quick kiss. “Thank you, really, for this, whatever ‘this’ turns out to be.”

“I think you’ll like it, but it’s not actually until tomorrow.”

There was no line for check in and, minutes after they left the car, Harry was instructing Louis on how to unlock their door with the keycard.

They tossed their bags to the ground and Louis rocked back on his heels. “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, the thing is tomorrow, but it’s right after sunset, I’m actually really hoping we don’t miss it, so I thought the closest we could get would be best.”

“Right. Okay.” Louis had no idea what Harry could possibly have up his sleeve. “So what are we going to do until then?”

Harry eyed the bed. “I have some ideas.”

After they tightly closed the blinds, then double and triple checked that Louis would be fine once the sun rose, they fell into bed. They did pass some of their free time tangled together in the bed, but before long they fell asleep and spent most of their time in the foreign room catching up on sleep. 

The next day, after a long, luxurious shower, they started to get dressed. 

“Harry, seriously, where are we going. I have no idea what to wear.”

Harry glanced at the small bag he had packed. “I seriously doubt you have a lot of choices hidden away in there.”

Louis huffed and pulled out a clean t-shirt and boxers from his bag and grabbed his dirty jeans from the floor. It was possible Harry was right and that was all he had packed in terms of clothes, but Harry really didn’t need to know that. 

Harry wouldn’t tell him where they were going in the elevator to the lobby, or on the walk to the car, or once they had pulled out of the parking lot. When they pulled into the New Rochelle High School, Louis let out a little gasp. “This is, was, my high school.” 

“I know.”

“How did I not… Everything’s changed so much.”

Harry pulled into the first open parking spot, then turned to Louis with a deep breath. 

“This might be too much. And if it is, that’s okay, we can turn around and leave right now.”

“Harry…”

“But I found some of your family on Facebook.”

“You what?”

“They’re… Tonight’s a dance recital.”

“What the fuck Harry?” In all of his wildest dreams he never thought Harry would bring him to somewhere like this. 

“Are you… is this you angry? Did I overstep again?”

“No, I’m just… overwhelmed, I think. I don’t really understand.”

“Wanna go in?”

Louis couldn’t get his seatbelt off quick enough and he stumbled out of the car. Harry caught up to him on the sidewalk, grabbing his hand and holding it tight as they walked to the main doors. 

They smiled politely at the woman sitting behind a folding table handing out programs. “Auditorium's that way.” She twisted in her seat to point them in the right direction. “We just ask that if the music’s on, you wait until the end of that performance before opening the door and going in.”

They stood outside of the auditorium door and pressed their ears to the wood, but couldn’t hear any music from the other side. They quickly opened it and scooted inside. 

Harry gestured to some empty seats at the back, but Louis shook his head. He needed to see how far along they were in the program, a hard feat with shaking hands, and to find his family. If most of them were here, that meant that they should be taking up a fairly large clump of seats. 

They stood through a tap performance and and then ballet song, both of which had tiny dancers who kept looking off to the side to see what moves they should be doing. Louis didn’t know either of the songs, but Harry helpfully pointed out where they were in the program, and then underlined with his finger two names about five songs down. Louis, of course, didn’t recognize them, and he turned to Harry and whispered, “Twins?” 

Harry nodded with a smile. “Lottie’s,” he mouthed back. 

Louis redoubled his efforts to find his family in the auditorium, even though he was sure soon enough he’d be able to hear them. 

When it was their turn, a loud whoop came from the opposite corner of the room. Louis was out of his seat and walking along the back aisle before he could even think if it was a good idea.

If his heart hadn’t already stopped, it would’ve at the sight of his mom, _his mom_ , sitting surrounded by his siblings and others he didn’t know. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t seen the pink shock of Lottie’s hair from across the room. Little feet started tapping out onto stage and Louis immediately knew which two were his nieces. He had nieces. Maybe many nieces if the brood surrounding his mom was any indication. They were the spitting image of Doris when she was their age. 

He tried to keep his eyes on the dancers, but he kept getting pulled back to his family, enthralled. There was his mom, and Doris recording the whole thing with her phone, and Fizzy telling two teenaged boys to pay attention. His chest ached with how much Fizzy looked like his mom, and how young his mom still looked, even after all these years. Daisy, Phoebe, Lottie, and Ernie were behind them, a few other people Louis assumed were partners, and a whole smattering of pre-teens and teenagers looking bored around them. 

They all looked so _happy._ They were totally fine without him. As they should be, it was thirty-five years after all. But seeing them together and happy settled a part of him that he didn’t even know was disturbed until that moment. 

His family was happy. He didn’t need to worry about them any more. 

The song ended, the kids barely managed to take a bow without wobbling, and Louis was filled with pride watching his family stand and hoot and holler for them. One thing they were always good for was being supportive of each other. This was, by far, the happiest moment of his life, no matter how bittersweet. 

And Harry, _Harry_ was the one who was able to give this to him. 

Harry put a gentle hand on his lower back. “Want to stick around? See them after?”

Louis shook his head. This was more than he could’ve asked for and he didn’t want to run the risk of them noticing him spying on them. 

“Let’s go.”

Harry nodded. 

Louis gave them all once last look before he walked back up the aisle. He knew he’d never see them again, and for the first time, he was at peace with that. 

Clutching Harry as they walked out of the school, Louis had no idea how he’d ever be able to repay Harry for this. 

“Thank you,” he finally said as he buckled his seatbelt and Harry turned on the car. It wasn’t enough, and he didn’t have the words, so it would have to do. 

“Glad you liked the surprise.” Harry squeezed his hand. “We could go back to the city, but I reserved the room for one more night… wasn’t sure if…”

“Yes, please. Not sure I’m quite ready to go back to everything. It’d be… I think I need the quiet.”

Harry gave him a small smile, and Louis wondered, not for the first time, how he had been lucky enough to fall into Harry’s orbit. 

〰〰〰

Zayn was spending less and less time in the apartment, giving Louis and Harry full reign of the place. Harry had taken to coming back to Louis’ place with him after their Friday night sessions on the roof, and they hunkered down by themselves over the weekends. Harry actually got a lot of studying done while Louis tried to figure out games on his phone or else spent time reading manuals for every piece of technology in the apartment. 

After finishing a particularly strenuous essay on cultural determinism in the context of Romanticism, Harry swooped Louis off the couch and into the bedroom, ready to release some tension. Louis easily gave into Harry’s request for a back massage and once his hands started cramping, Louis curled up beside Harry. 

“Hey, Louis?” Harry played with one of Louis’ longer pieces of hair, twirling it around his finger. 

“Yes my dear?” Louis loved watching Harry blush. Making the pink spots bloom high on his cheeks was quickly becoming Louis’ favorite pastime. 

“Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

Of all the questions in the entire world, Louis never would’ve guessed that Harry would’ve asked that. He was so caught off guard that he let out a giggle. “Are you only asking if I want to or are you also insinuating that this is mutual? Because it seems like a cruel trick to lull me into a false sense of security and then mock me,” Louis teased. 

“Lou,” Harry snorted by accident and they fell into a pile of laughter. 

Once they regained composure, Louis took Harry’s face into his hands, then kissed him long and hard and deep. “It’d be honor,” he said once he pulled away. “Don’t know how I got so lucky to find a boyfriend like you.”

They hadn’t talked about Louis biting Harry again, even though they were now both on board with the idea, they hadn’t found the perfect time to do it. Louis would occasionally catch Harry with his neck elongated in inopportune places like the grocery store or the subway because, as Louis quickly learned, Harry loved to be a tease. 

Louis ran his nose along Harry’s shoulder, inhaling the scent of his body wash. He nudged his way up Harry’s neck and spent a few long moments with his nose tucked behind Harry’s ear before his tongue laved at the sharp angle of Harry’s jaw. 

Knowing that they were going to do this at some point was driving Louis wild. He couldn’t stop looking at Harry that way, he’d get caught up in the smooth skin near the crook of his elbow, or the jut of his collarbone, or his inner thigh and Louis would have to dig his nails into his hands to keep from pulling the skin taut and sinking in.

Harry’s pulse thumped steadily and for the very first time some carnal part of Louis wanted to elongate his fangs, scratch the tip along the thin layers of skin, and prick Harry so just the tiniest drop would ooze out. He wanted to taste Harry, to hold out, not allowing himself to sink his fangs in fully until he well and truly couldn’t hold back any longer. His whole body was pressed against Harry, he couldn’t settle his hands anywhere, there was so much skin to touch, tease, caress. The slight swell of Harry’s stomach, the sharp cut of his pelvic bone, the firm muscles of his bicep. Harry was laid out below him, naked, and Louis couldn’t wait to start devouring him. 

“Louuu,” Harry’s drawn out moan snapped Louis back into action. 

Louis had to get away from that pulse point or this was going to be over far too soon. He brought his mouth down hard on Harry’s, diving into a kiss that was so thoroughly dirty, they were panting into each other’s mouths. 

He couldn’t control the roll of his hips. He needed friction, needed to press himself hard and rough against Harry’s soft skin. Harry’s hips bucked in response, and the animalistic moan that Louis let out when their dicks finally met nearly sent him into a tailspin. Louis took a deep breath to compose himself, letting his fingers dance across Harry’s flank.

The devotion he swore he was going to pay to Harry’s body was replaced by an all-consuming need to watch Harry fall over the edge as quickly as possible. He grabbed the lube from its spot next to his pile of books, and finally settled between Harry’s legs. He slicked a few fingers on one hand, then ran a gentle finger around Harry’s fluttering rim. 

Louis pushed in, and started to open him up as efficiently as possible. After round one, he could come back and finger Harry until he cried, but with the way Harry’s hips were already hitching and the way he was fisting the sheets, he wanted it just as quickly as Louis did. 

He then slicked himself up and hovered over top of Harry’s body. His cock was rubbing against Harry’s balls as he slowly rocked back and forth before pulling Harry into another kiss. 

“Lou, please,” Harry finally begged. 

Louis loved to give Harry whatever he wanted so he gripped the base of his cock and started to slowly push in. 

“How do you want it, baby?” Louis asked. 

“Hard. I want you, need you to… fuck, just fuck me already.”

Louis pushed the rest of the way in and only waited a few moments before pulling most of the way out, then gripped Harry’s hips and pushed back in to start a brutal pace. 

Harry held on tight as Louis punched out ‘uh uh uhs’ every time he thrust in. 

Harry’s smell was intoxicating, a perfect mix of cologne and sweat, and Louis buried his nose in Harry’s neck as he pounded into him. He could feel Harry’s heartbeat against his lips and before he could stop it, his fangs were bared and his hips were snapping and Harry was below him making the most delicious noises.

“Lou, Lou,” Harry panted. “Lou, I’m so close. Need to—”

“Fuck baby. Can I—” He had no idea what was going to happen when he did it, but he knew that he had to get himself under control or he was going to bite. 

“Bite me,” Harry moaned. “Please, now.” He adjusted his head a bit to give Louis the best access.

Louis gave in then, sinking his fangs into the soft flesh. In a moment Harry went still below him as a flood of endorphins flooded his system. Harry clenched around him as he shot off between them and Louis felt a pleasure he hadn’t felt in decades. It built and built until an orgasm crashed over him. Harry was still riding out his own orgasm as Louis retracted his fangs and ran his tongue along his lips and then tentatively licked at Harry’s wounds. He wouldn’t let himself drink any more, not that he even needed it, he had never felt so alive, so vibrant as he did in that moment. 

In a flash it was like the world that had been dull and quiet and grey came to life and Louis’ senses were overloaded with information. 

Harry was still panting, coming down, occasionally clenching down around Louis’ cock and Louis had never felt anything so exquisite.


	5. Chapter 5

A kernel of popcorn landed in Louis’ lap. “Break it up, you two,” Zayn pleaded. “I know you are like, so totally in love, but really, I’m ready for you to get over the honeymoon phase.”

Harry gripped Louis even tighter in his arms. “We haven’t been together that long. We’re allowed to be a little…”

“Cuddly,” Louis said.. 

With multiple beers between his fingers, Liam walked back into Louis’ living room. “Of course you are, and we’re happy you’re getting some, but I could smell your pheromones from the kitchen.”

“You’re allowed to be… cuddly… but you were cuddly before you even got together, so now you’re like, far too cuddly to be in public,” Niall said.

“We’re not in public,” Louis countered as he burrowed his face into Harry’s neck. 

“To even be amongst friends. Can you at least stop with the kissing for a few minutes?” Zayn asked.

“Jealous?” Louis murmured without lifting his head. 

Liam laughed under his breath. 

“No, don’t think I am,” Zayn said. 

“Should be. Harry’s lips are… heavenly,” said Louis. 

Niall snorted. “Not something you’d know about.”

“Rude.”

“Come on, Louis. Seriously. We need to discuss this,” Zayn said.

“Why? Can’t we be done discussing our relationship?” Louis gave Harry another kiss for good measure.

Zayn groaned. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. I don’t want to talk about Harry. I want to talk about Trivia Tuesdays.”

“Hmm… much rather kiss Harold here than worry about that.”

“What’s wrong with your trivia game?” Harry asked, once he pulled away from Louis. 

“The Kardashian Coven beat us last week, which puts them in second place and bumps us down to third. We’re never going to win at this rate,” Zayn said. 

“There’s still so much of the season left. We can come back.” Louis rolled his eyes. 

“Not sure about that,” Liam said. “We are pretty awful at anything involving pop culture. Another few nights like the ones we’ve had and we’re going to be at the bottom.”

“Ergh,” Zayn crushed a handful of popcorn and dropped the mess on the floor. Louis raised his eyebrows at Harry, trying to express how out of control Zayn had been about the whole thing. “Maybe we need to add another study session to our week.”

Louis groaned. “No way. I can’t possibly.”

“Like you have anything more important to do,” Zayn nearly shouted.

Louis squeezed Harry’s side but was quite proud of keeping his thoughts to himself. 

“Part of the problem might be that we’re such a small coven. How can the four of us expect to win when some have so many members?” Niall asked. 

“I could join.” Harry looked around the room. 

“Babe, that’s nice of you to offer, but humans aren’t allowed.”

“I know,” Harry said. 

Suddenly everyone in the room was looking at Harry.

“We couldn’t expect you too,” Niall said.

“Harry, not over a trivia game,” added Liam. 

“I’m not going to say no.” Zayn gave Louis a pointed look. “But I’m also not going to turn you. You’ll have to convince one of the others.”

Harry squirmed in Louis’ lap. “I mean, I kinda thought…”

Louis pinched the soft bulge of his love handles. “We’re not talking about this here.”

It wasn’t like Louis hadn’t thought about it, how it seemed like Harry just _fit_ with the rest of them in a way that seemed almost too easy. He was falling fast, too fast honestly, but Harry had slid into their lives and Louis hoped he wouldn’t have to give that up… but it was so soon. He needed to be a thousand percent sure that this was what Harry wanted. 

〰〰〰

Once Niall came back with their drinks, Zayn banged his fists on the table. The bar was less crowded than normal, which was great, because they could discuss their business freely. 

Zayn took a long sip of his Bloody Maria and slammed his glass on the table. “I hereby call this meeting to order.”

Liam and Niall both burst out laughing and Louis rolled his eyes. 

“Okay, fine. Who wants to start?”

All three of them looked at Louis. “Why are you looking at me?”

“You’re probably the most invested in this,” Liam said. 

“Uh, no. If he’s joining our coven then we’re all equally invested,” Louis countered.

“He’s right,” Zayn said. “Let’s do this. If anyone has any reservations about Harry joining, now is the time to voice them.”

All four members looked around at each other. Niall shrugged and took a sip of his drink. Liam was focused on a hangnail. Louis opened his mouth once, then closed it. 

“Cool. Well that was easy. Let’s put this to a vote. All in favor of inviting Harry into the coven, raise your hand.” 

Zayn lifted his hand while he was still speaking and Niall and Liam’s both shot up right as he finished. 

“Lou, seriously? What’s your deal, do you honestly not want him to join?” Liam asked. 

“No, I do… it’s just… it’s his call to make. I don’t want him rushing into a decision.” 

“Do you think we’re going to force this on him?” Zayn looked genuinely troubled. “I’d have hoped by now that you’d know it’s totally his choice. We’ll welcome him with open arms and help him all we can if he wants, but if he doesn’t that’s totally fine too.” 

“No, I know. It’s just…”

“Just what?” Niall leaned forward in his seat. “What are you worried about?”

“Just… wanna make sure he knows what he’s doing.” 

“Have you two talked about it?” Liam asked. 

“Yeah, like… everyday for weeks now. That’s all we’ve talked about. He knows what to expect and we’ve covered the coven rules, made dozens of pros and cons lists.”

“And what does he want?” Zayn asked. 

Louis took a deep breath. “He wants to join the coven.” Louis knew the other three were exchanging looks while he stared down at the table. “Look, I know it’s his choice. But I’m worried I might have influenced him too much. I’m way too excited about the prospect of him being a part of the coven. I love you guys, but he’s like, already my best friend. To know we’ll have an eternity together is…” He struggled to find the right, all-encompassing word. “Incredible. I don’t want him to regret it a hundred years from now if it’s not as great as I’ve made it seem.” 

“He’s adult who can make his own decisions. You don’t think he’s thought this through carefully?” Niall asked. 

“He’s smart. He says he knows what he’s doing,” Louis finally said. 

“Alright.” Zayn clapped his hands together. “Let’s vote again. All in favor of inviting Harry into the coven, raise your hand.” This time all three raised their hands quickly, and with a growing smile, Louis did too. 

Zayn led a rousing cheer, then stood and lifted his glass. “To Harry!”

The others followed his lead. “To Harry!”

〰〰〰

Louis grabbed a few bottles of cold water from the refrigerator. He shut the door with his hip and passed by Zayn in the hallway on the way back to his room where Harry was waiting. 

“He okay?” Zayn asked. 

“Nervous, I think, a bit. Mostly excited.” Louis shrugged. “I’m going to do what I can to make it a peaceful transition. 

“I know you will.” Zayn patted him on the shoulder. “Let us know if you need anything. We’ll all be here for you two.”

Louis nodded. He really hoped that he’d be able to do it successfully. Zayn had explained it to him multiple times and he understood it theoretically, but he still had never done it before. 

He knocked gently and waited for Harry’s soft “come in” before he opened his door. As he walked in, he saw Harry laying in the middle of the bed, holding his phone up in front of his face. 

“Ready?” Harry asked. 

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“Great minds…” Harry joked. 

Louis gave him a lopsided smile. “Want to go over it all again?”

“Not for my peace of mind; think we’ve talked it over enough times. But, I’m willing to bet you do.”

“Asshole,” Louis said fondly. “But you’re right. Lay there and pretend you’re listening for my sake.”

“I’m all ears.”

Louis set the bottles of water down on the nightstand and crawled into bed with Harry. “Okay, so I’m going to bite you like I always do.” He ran a finger down the side of Harry’s neck and tapped once in his dip of his collarbone. 

“Rwar.”

“That’ll feel like it always does.”

“Will we have time for a quicky?” Harry asked. 

Louis laughed. “Sure, if you want, the bite can be while we’re doing it.”

“That’d be great, because I kinda always want to be doing you.”

“You’re insatiable.” Louis gave him a quick kiss. “That’s fine, but I can’t get too lost in it because after your blood’s had a chance to get all…”

“Vampire-y?” Harry could be such a little shit, but yes, he was right even if he wasn’t using any of the technical terms Louis had taught him. 

“Yes, vampire-y, then I’ll bite you again, maybe on the other side, keep you from getting too many bruises, and my fangs will inject the blood back into your bloodstream.”

“And even though you pissed yourself and cried like a baby it doesn’t hurt?”

“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t regret telling you that. No, it doesn’t hurt. I was far more scared of what I thought was going to happen than I should’ve been.”

“And the screaming.”

Louis flicked his nose. “Yes, thus the screaming, so my mom came running and apparently found me naked and nearly dead on my bed. I’m still not sure how Zayn got out of there fast enough to not get caught.”

Harry giggled again. “Sorry Lou, I know it’s not really funny, but the idea of you screaming like a child getting a shot.”

“Enough out of you or I’m going to bury you alive.”

Harry gasped. “You wouldn’t!”

“No, I wouldn’t. Even with Zayn waiting for me when I got out, that sucked a lot.” 

Harry took his turn giving Louis a moment of comfort. “Okay, so, we’re not going to be interrupted and I’m not going to scream like a toddler, so…”

Louis continued, “So, you’re essentially going to fall asleep as your heartbeat slows down, then your whole body will basically shut down as it deals with the invading ‘disease’ and then after a few days you’ll come to, still with slower body functions, but your mind intact. Oh, and you’ll be thirsty. So fucking thirsty. So we’re fully stocked with the best blood bags money can buy.”

“Easy-peasy.”

“Then you’ll be stuck with us for eternity.”

“Think of all the sex we’ll get to have.”

“Oh my god!” Louis laughed. “Yes, we’ll get to fuck for eons. You’re still interested? It’s okay if you back down now.”

“I’m good. Let’s do this! I’m ready to vamp.” 

Louis laid on top of him, pulling him into a deep kiss, and rolling his hips once. “Let’s get started then.”

Once Louis finished the ritual, he didn’t want to leave Harry’s side. He laid next to him keeping watch for nearly twenty-four hours straight until Zayn finally came in and made Louis get up and shower. Louis still didn’t want to leave his side and was, for the first time, actually thankful that he now had super speed and could shower in record time. After leaving him the first time, the next few days were a little easier to leave his side for moments at a time, leaving Zayn or Liam or Niall to watch over Harry’s body while he was gone. 

Once the fifth day passed and Harry could get up at any time, it was impossible for them to get Louis to move from Harry’s side. He insisted on being there the moment Harry started to wake up and wanted to be the first person Harry saw when he opened his eyes. 

After what felt like a lifetime, finally Harry’s eyes started to flutter open. Louis was there to stroke his face and pepper him with butterfly kisses and ease his transition back to the living. 

“Ow, Lou,” Harry started scratching at his throat. 

“Zayn!” Louis shouted. “The bags! Harry’s up!”

Zayn and the others were there by his side in a moment, puncturing a bag with a straw and passing it over to Harry. After he had emptied one, and then another, all with Louis keeping a steady hand on his thigh, he finally tipped his head back and let out a long sigh. 

He smirked at Louis, then looked around at everyone else. “What’s the plan for tonight? I’m kinda sick of just lying around.”

Louis tackled him and couldn’t resist pressing their lips together. After a quick moment of just feeling Harry under him, knowing that he had made it through, that he was safe, Louis kissed him deeper. He had missed the way he tasted, the way his tongue felt against his, the sound of his moans. 

“Alright,” Niall said. “Guess we know what you’ll be doing tonight.”

“Maybe we can all go out tomorrow night, if you’ll be done by then,” Liam suggested. 

“Okay. Okay.” Zayn started to corral the others out of the room. “Let’s give them some privacy.”

And Louis was more than okay with that. 

〰〰〰

“Tonight’s winner is…”

After Harry was turned, their trivia team did a major turn around and on the last night of the season, were close to catching the Kardashian Clan in the standings.

Zayn, Niall, Liam, Louis, and Harry were all sitting around their table, hands clenched in a tight pile on top. 

“Drum roll please,” The Quizmaster always had a flair for the dramatics. 

“Whatever happens, I’m really proud of all of you,” Zayn said. 

The others all cooed at his unusual burst of sentimentality. 

“The Malik Clan!” 

Everyone at their table burst into cheers and applause. Liam was fist pumping into the air and Niall was doing an odd hip thrust thing that had Zayn laughing. Louis, of course, had immediately turned and kissed Harry. 

“Which means, this season, for the first time ever, we have a tie for the league champion. In order to break the tie, we will go into sudden death. I’ll ask one question. You’ll write your answers down, and the first team to get it wrong, will lose. We’ll continue until we have a clear winner.”

Someone came around with extra scraps of papers for both teams while the Quizmaster got himself sorted. Finally everyone was ready. The bar was nearly silent with all eyes focused on the bar. 

“Alright, are you ready?” He was answered with a roar from the spectators. Both Zayn’s team and the Kardashians nodded. “This musician was born Farrokh Bulsara.”

“I know this,” Harry whispered excitedly. “Gimme the pen.” 

Louis looked around, it looked like a good portion of the bar was deep in thought. 

“Are you sure Harry?” Zayn asked. 

Harry finished writing and put the pen down. “I’m sure.” Louis squeezed his knee and hoped that his nerves weren’t showing. He desperately wanted Harry to get this. 

Zayn picked up the paper and shouted “Done!” while folding it in half. 

They waited a few more seconds until the other team had submitted their answer. 

“I’m happy to announce that we now have this season’s winner! The correct answer is Freddie Mercury!”

Zayn’s team all leapt to their feet and started celebrating. Louis was filled with pride when the other three enveloped Harry in a hug. He pushed his way into the huddle, not content with just throwing his arms around their backs, he wiggled his way between their arms so that he could wrap both arms around Harry. Now that he’d helped them win the trivia season for the first time ever, Zayn was going to be in a great mood for the next few months. 

“So glad you worked your way into my life,” Louis whispered to Harry amongst the commotion. 

“So glad you let me make up my own mind about joining the coven,” Harry answered with a smile. 

“So glad you’ve won us free beer for the year!” Niall mocked them. 

“Yeah, that’s a nice prize too,” Louis said. 

Louis waited as long as he possibly could for the public celebration to be over, but he finally pulled Harry off to the side. “Want to go home and celebrate by ourselves.” Louis licked his lips at the way Harry’s eyes dilated at just the suggestion. He couldn’t wait to see Harry’s excitement over his other prize, round-trip tickets for them to spend the summer in London. 

“Come on, H, let’s get home. We have forever to celebrate with them.” Harry followed quickly behind, as Louis walked them out into the loud city night.

**Author's Note:**

> Here is a [tumblr post](http://louandhazaf.tumblr.com/post/166146830448/title-darkest-night-hour-author-yesisaworld) if you liked this and want to share. Or, come say hi!


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